Community Partners are Helping to Spread the Word | November 2017 SCGLR Newsletter

Parents and family members, through their daily interactions with the children in their lives, provide a foundation for a child’s healthy development. The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (SCGLR) wants to help parents succeed in being their child’s first, best teacher.

SCGLR has assembled short tips based on suggestions from childcare experts, leading educators, experienced parents, and brain scientists, and we are ready to text these tips to you! Children from ages 0-3rd grade can benefit. We call this service Everyday Hero. Parents are Everyday Heroes because the things they can do every day help children learn and grow.

Parents can text EverydayHero to 77453 for up to three weekly tips on how they can create learning experiences for their children.

Tips are sorted by age groups:

Community partners are helping to spread the word about Everyday Hero. ABC7 My Suncoast is sponsoring a Facebook contest. Beginning November 13th, viewers are encouraged to submit their own Everyday Hero tips and photos for a chance to win an iPad and an opportunity to appear in an upcoming Everyday Hero television commercial.

Publications such as NEXTGEN magazine, Tempo, and 7DÍAS will include information on Everyday Hero; MCAT and SCAT buses will have advertisements encouraging parents to participate. Encourage your friends and neighbors to participate too. Quality time with your child is fun; teaching them something new while bonding with them will stay with them forever ♥

Everyday Hero is a gift to the community from The Patterson Foundation.

Message and data rates apply. Text STOP to cancel or HELP for help.
Information on privacy and terms.

Findings from the 2017 Suncoast Summer Book Challenge

Editor’s Note: The image above indicates the locations of summer camps and organizations that participated in the Suncoast Summer Book Challenge.

The summer of 2017 marked the first year of the Suncoast Summer Book Challenge sponsored by the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading through the generosity of The Patterson Foundation.

The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading focuses on the common issues and obstacles that impact a child’s ability to read proficiently by the end of third grade: school readiness (0-age 5), school attendance, and summer learning. The average low-income child loses 2.5 – 3 months of reading proficiency each summer. This startling statistic motivated many in the Suncoast region to take action. Summer camp providers, individuals, businesses, county parks and recreation sites, library systems, school districts, and philanthropists partnered to make sure children in our region were motivated to read. The Suncoast Summer Book Challenge encouraged children to read at least six books during the summer months.

Participating children were rewarded with brightly colored silicone bracelets for every book they read while summer providers came up with numerous ways to keep reading in the forefront throughout the summer. The Patterson Foundation provided financial support to enhance this love of learning during the summer months. The School District of Manatee County and the School District of Sarasota County partnered with the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading to provide assessment comparisons for the summer providers who were able to share school identifier numbers for the participating children.

Twenty-two locations participated in the 2017 Suncoast Summer Book Challenge. There were many learnings reported throughout the summer which will be used to improve the execution of the Suncoast Summer Book Challenge next year. One of the most significant challenges for the participating summer providers was data collection and reporting. We are exploring ways to streamline the process to enable us to gather information regularly from every site and to use that data to establish best practices throughout our region.