This spring Ayden UMC will collect new and gently used books for elementary school children as part of the Give Five Read Five program started by the NC Department of Public Instruction.
You can drop off new or gently used books in the fellowship hall in the Stroud Building.
This initiative was started to help combat summer loss, the term for the loss in literacy skills when students are out of school for the summer.
Why is this effort important?
Have you ever heard of the term summer loss? This is not a seasonal diet or exercise program, but a troubling trend in which students lose valuable literacy skills when they stop reading during their break from school.
Low-income children are especially susceptible to this problem because they often go home to an environment where there are very few books or other reading resources. As a result, by the end of fifth grade, these students are approximately 2 ½ years behind their more affluent peers in terms of reading ability, primarily because of summer loss.
Please donate and encourage others to GIVE FIVE books today to help students READ FIVE this summer so they can be more successful in the new school year.