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The school year is behind us, and many parents are now faced with how to make the most of the summer break to support their children’’s learning.
The Children’’s Trust understands the critical importance of reading, especially early literacy, to help our children thrive in school. Through Trust-funded programs, parents have various free resources to use this summer to enhance their children’’s reading skills, ensuring continued growth and preventing the effects of the summer slide.
Here’s how you can make summer count with our literacy initiatives:
For our youngest aspiring readers, The Children’s Trust Book Club offers an invaluable resource that Miami-Dade parents can use to create a love of reading. They can register their children from birth until they are 4 and a half years old to receive a new book every month in either English or Spanish. Members can also request a special mailing in Haitian Creole.
The books are thoughtfully selected, as they include classics, award-winners, and engaging picture books designed to captivate even the tiniest minds.
Each book is accompanied by a reading guide that empowers parents and caregivers to connect with their children outside world through reading. The guides provide tips on how to enhance understanding and enjoyment, using the book to help children explore and relate to the world around them. The mailing also includes activity sheets that offer fun exercises that build on the book’s themes and vocabulary, making learning interactive and enjoyable.
Spending time with your child and a book is about more than just reading; it’’s about creating lasting bonds and setting the stage for a bright future. The emotional connection and curiosity you foster during these moments lay the foundation for a happy, healthy, and stable future. To join The Children’’s Trust Book Club, visit TheChildrensTrust.org/BookClub.
For kindergartners to fifth 5th graders, The Trust’s Battle of the Books is an exciting way to keep their reading skills sharp over the summer. Participants in selected summer camps will meet professional and college athletes, local performers, and authors, compete for prizes, and enjoy the thrill of a reading competition. After more than a month of fun-filled, book-related activities, the competition ends with a book battle competition that crowns Miami-Dade’s Great Book Warriors.
Another fantastic program is Summer 305, a collaborative Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) initiative in partnership with The Children’s Trust. For the third consecutive year, this program is dedicated to keeping kids learning during the summer by having M-DCPS teachers visit hundreds of summer camps regularly, providing tutoring, and helping children get ahead in their learning in the summer.
Summer 305 ensures that children have continuous access to educational support, and they don’t lose ground during the summer, by providing instruction in reading and math. By integrating tutoring into summer camps, we combine the fun of camp activities with the benefits of academic enrichment, making learning a seamless and enjoyable part of summer break.
An initiative that supports children reading during the summer and beyond is The Children’’s Trust Books for Free program operated by Miami Book Fair at Miami Dade College. Books for Free delivers an average of 2,400 new and gently used books per week to over 70 public bookshelves in high-traffic locations in underserved neighborhoods. These books are free for the taking by children and their caregivers and the goal is to get more books in the hands of children who need them the most.
Visit TheChildrensTrust.org/BooksforFree to find a bookshelf and to learn more about the program.
The Children’s Trust firmly believes in early literacy as a foundation for lifelong learning.
Trust-funded programs help cultivate a love of reading in their children, starting from a young age and continuing through their formative years. Take advantage of these wonderful opportunities this summer to support your child’s reading journey.
For more information on these and other programs and summer offerings, visit TheChildrensTrust.org. Let’s make this summer a season of growth, learning, and joyful reading for all Miami-Dade children.
James R. Haj is president and CEO of The Children’s Trust.
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