Parent spot

Let's Get STARTED!

About Us

"Let's Get STARTED!" is a kindergarten through twelfth-grade reading initiative designed to get Schalmont Talking And Reading Together Every Day with a focus on encouraging reading at home. Learn more

Mission Statement

Based on research and best practices indicating a positive correlation between reading and achievement scores, the "Let's Get STARTED!" initiative seeks to encourage reading among students and their families in the school district. Our mission is to create a culture that places a high value on reading. By modeling and offering guidance in reading together and engaging in reading conversations, we hope to promote more meaningful reading experiences among Schalmont students (K-12) and their families.

Objectives:

• Encourage reading at home with a focus on siblings, friends, and other family members in read-aloud settings.
• Promote culture of reading and book talk.

Did you know?

• 61 percent of low-income families have no children's books at home.
• Reading literature affects the development of social imagination, which is linked to moral and social behavior... Oh yes, and they are generally improving their test scores (Ivey & Johnson)
• People who read fiction have a more developed social imagination (Mar et al. 2006)
• People with an increased understanding of social-emotional life and of the possibility of personal change are less likely to stereotype and judge others or themselves or to develop problems of internalization resulting in depression and suicide (Dweck 2000).
• The daily activity of reading together strengthens reading and communication skills in the child and also strengthens the parent/child relationship.
• Fewer than half (48%) of young children in the U.S. are read to daily, meaning that more than 13 million children under 5 go to bed every night without a bedtime story.
• The percentage of children read to daily drops even lower (to 36%) among low-income families. Even among high-income families, more than 2 out of every 5 children are not read to daily.