PBS and JetBlue partner up to keep kids reading all summer long

"Soar with Reading" offers in-flight packages to entertain young travelers with reading games.

While running around outside keeps children physically active during the summer, it's important that they exercise their minds as well.

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Studies show that if kids forego reading throughout the summer, they are vulnerable to the "summer slide," a decrease in learning and reading level over the summer months.

The National Summer Learning Association reported that students could lose from one to three months of learning ? math and reading ? during the summer

?We?re on a mission to change that,? said Lesli Rotenburg, senior vice president of children?s media at PBS, who partnered with JetBlue Airways to launch Soar with Reading ? Let Your Imagination Take Flight, an initiative to keep children engaged in reading and learning everywhere they go this summer.

?It?s really just to get kids out there reading,? said Gina Rauscher, manager of Corporate Social Responsibility for JetBlue. ?Reading and education can happen anywhere.?

The program, targeted at ages three to eight, provides children flying with JetBlue this summer with a free activity kit filled with reading games to entertain them during flight.

?You?re just looking for something to do, so why not give them activity books?. keep families engaged when in an airplane,? Rotenburg said.

On the program?s website, SoarwithReading.com, parents can download the same activity kit, craft a summer reading list, and log minutes spent reading.

?We're taking the JetBlue experience to a new level, creating new ways for families to take advantage of the free Soar with Reading resources ? online, in-flight, and on the ground in local communities,? Icema Gibbs, director of corporate social responsibility for JetBlue said in a press release.

?The program was designed to help improve literacy skills,? said Rauscher. ?We are working to get it on board on all of our flights and in all of our airports.?

JetBlue is coordinating with their general managers from Costa Rico, Columbia, the Dominican Republic and other locations to develop similar programs. They have also published the activity book in Spanish.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/W4VFBvygFkc/PBS-and-JetBlue-partner-up-to-keep-kids-reading-all-summer-long

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