The America Reads Challenge is initiating and encouraging thousands of these efforts. Sponsoring sites for summer reading programs. The program encourages children to read 30 minutes a day at least once or twice a week with an older reading partner, get a library card and use it, and learn a new vocabulary word a day. Local libraries, Title I schools, and youth groups such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Hadassah help sponsor sites for this summer program. Providing ideas and supportive materials to parents and caregivers to help young children develop and improve their language skills and develop readiness skills for learning.
Parents are their child's first and most important teachers, beginning at birth.
Research shows that parents and caregivers can engage in exercises to foster development of the necessary skills in their child, and work together to ensure that each child has the proper foundation for reading skills. The America Reads Challenge seeks to reinforce the importance of skill-building activities for children beginning at birth, and of programs that encourage and support parent involvement activities. Further information on the America Reads Challenge is included in this publication. To participate, individuals personally or through a sponsoring organization can spend time reading to a child, educate students to prevent substance abuse, recruit and organize tutors, mentor a child in math, sponsor a career day, or sponsor an event to connect middle and high school students with colleges. Further information on America Goes Back to School is included in this publication.