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.