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SALT LAKE CITY -- Most Utah elementary school students are now out of school for the summer, but advocates say this is not the time to take a vacation from reading.
Diving from a plane was the incentive a school principal in Clearfield offered his students if they would dive into reading, and they did. As part of the Ken Garff Road to Success program, the students at West Clinton Elementary School logged thousands of minutes to see this spectacle.
"I did want to see my principal jump out of a plane," sixth-grader Josh Barlow said.
"I think it was kinda weird, but it was also really cool," student Kimi Price said.
To keep enthusiasm, Salt Lake County Library Services is hosting a summer reading program, with fun activities and prizes for hitting the books.
"Kids, a lot of times, will let their reading slide in the summer," says Jennifer Fay, assistant manager at the Whitmore Library. "If we keep them reading in the summer, and keep books an important thing in the house, and make sure it's an important part of the family, kids will do better in school."
In addition to helping children do better in school, Fay says reading during the summer can be a fun family activity.
"We encourage them to read whatever they love; reading should be fun," says Jennifer Fay, assistant manager at the Whitmore Library. "We don't want to sap any of the fun out of it, so that's why we make it such a big party here at the library during the summer -- to just really take advantage of that free reading time."
Julie Holdbrook is one mom making sure here kids take part in the library challenge.
"Reading is important for us any day of the year," she says.
One strategy Holdbrook says she'll implement is using time spent traveling in the car this summer for reading instead of playing DVDs.
Salt Lake County libraries hosted a party Thursday night to kick off their summer reading program. Part of the program is rewarding children for their reading. Usually about 15,000 kids participate and get prizes for their effort is certainly an incentive. [CLICK HERE for information on reading events the libraries have planned for the summer]
KSL will be launching our own Summer Reading Challenge online. Check KSL.com on June 15 for details. The top readers will get book bashes at their school.
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Story compiled with contributions from Nadine Wimmer and Nicole Gonzales.
