Did you know that a child’s vocabulary at age 3 predicts their reading development achievement in 3rd grade?

Similarly, when children struggle to read in 4th grade, they are four times more likely to drop out of high school.

Below is a blog post created from a submission sent in by Stephanie Conrad, a Montessori Teacher and Summer Program Director from Pennsylvania who created a book festival at her school based on The Book Tree, written by Paul Czajak and illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh.

You’ve probably heard that summer reading is important, but you might be surprised to learn just how much of an impact it has.

Studies tell us that school-age children lose an average of one month of school learning over the summer, with some children losing up to three months of school learning. Why? The simple answer: they don’t read enough.

Below is a guest post by Stacy Clark, environmental geologist, educator, climate journalist and Barefoot author of Planet Power. She has helped many kids write letters to their government officials. Here are her tips!

Here are some of our favorite bookstores to visit in Massachusetts.

Reading all summer long is the best way to help young minds grow!

Did you know that children lose an average of 1-3 months of learning over the summer? Summer learning loss is even more of a threat after a year of disrupted childcare and school experiences. School age children, preschoolers and even infants and toddlers need intellectual stimulation over the summer in order for their brains to grow optimally. Research tells us that the best way to do this is to keep them reading all summer long. Our FREE Barefoot Summer Book Club is designed to do just that!

Give your superstar teachers the big thank-you they deserve!

Did you know that reading aloud is the single most important thing you can do to help children achieve academic success?

Early exposure to reading aloud has such a long-term influence on children’s outcomes that pediatricians in the United States are now required to “prescribe” reading to parents of all babies from birth! Reading aloud is in itself extremely beneficial for kids of all ages, but research shows that there are things you can do at home to support early literacy even more as you read. Here are some practical, evidence-based tips for supporting literacy from infancy through school age.