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Reading NOW is a full-service literacy center within the Achievement Center of LECOM Health that provides educational programs and services for children from babies to high school seniors. The Achievement Center of LECOM Health strives to maximize the potential of children. One of the leading factors in determining future success is access to education and the necessary academic supports to apply learned concepts. Education provides opportunities for personal, social, and academic development. Through Reading NOW, the Achievement Center of LECOM Health is able to offer well-designed academic initiatives that create strategic readers, life-long learners, and confident individuals.

Camp Read-A-Lot is a week long summer program offered through Reading NOW at the Achievement Center of LECOM Health. During Camp Read A Lot, students spend time reading and writing in a fun, relaxed camp setting. Students entering grades K-3 complete word study work, STEM activities, writing opportunities and arts and crafts related to a different story each day. All students create a story or book of their own during the week as well. Writing is incorporated through the creation of their own book and also through journaling opportunities during the week.

“At the beginning of the school year, teachers need to spend the first five to six weeks reviewing material they saw the year before. We invest for nine months and then let those gains slip away. It’s a vicious cycle,” said Matthew Boulay, founder of the National Summer Learning Association.

Every student is at risk of summer learning loss. Research shows that children who don’t read during the summer can lose months of reading progress. The “summer slide” refers to this tendency for students to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year over the course of the summer months. Finding a great summer reading program to help promote good reading habits can be challenging.

“It is critical for children to be engaged in learning over the summer months. However you go about it, whether it’s reading 20 minutes a day at home or enrolling your child in an educational camp program, it can make a big difference in helping to limit summer learning loss,” said Shanna Schumacher, Literacy Services Manager at the Achievement Center of LECOM Health.

This summer, two sessions of Camp Read-A-Lot will be offered at the Achievement Center of LECOM Health from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM the week of June 18th or July 30th. Camp registration information can be found online at: Reading Now by calling Shanna Schumacher at 814-616-0529.