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SALT LAKE CITY — KSL-TV is extending a challenge to every family in Utah: If you read with your kids, we’ll take care of dinner.
KSL’s Read Today program has partnered with Papa Murphy’s pizza to promise a free one-topping, family size pizza to those who commit to reading 20 minutes a day for a minimum of 12 days.
Students read with their teachers at school, but they're only there for six hours a day. Teachers want parents to take the initiative and find 20 minutes to read with their children at home on a daily basis.
Rachel Sorensen, a literacy coach at Neil Armstrong Academy, said research shows reading at home is “a powerful influence on student learning.”
Parent Federico Espinoza agreed.
“(Reading is) highly important, every night," Espinosa said. "Not only are they practicing their reading, but you as a parent are able to see or corroborate with what the teachers tell you during parent teacher conference.”
Reading is an investment, only it requires time, not money.
“When a student knows that their parent values what they’re learning and what they’re reading, it makes a big difference in the students’ lives,” Sorensen said.
Read Today:
Sorensen also offered some strategies to help make reading at home an achievable goal.
“My suggestions are always make it fun,” she said.
The key is to find what your child likes to read and make it enjoyable instead of a chore. To ensure he fits in reading time with his children, father Federico Espinoza said he multitasks by integrating reading with daily chores.
Another suggestion: Always carry books with you so you can read wherever you go. Keep books in the car or have them handy in a tote bag so they are accessible anywhere there may be some down time.
The pizza reading pledge will begin March 23 and continue through April 17. Take the pledge by going to ReadToday.com.
