Scholastic Summer Challenge™ FAQ

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Why the Scholastic Summer Challenge?
Research shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of the summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer. Low-income students experience the worst decline, losing more than two months in reading achievement. Yet, studies show that early and sustained summer learning opportunities improve academic outcomes for youth and lead to higher graduation rates and better preparation for college.

What is the Scholastic Summer Challenge? 
Scholastic, together with Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and the National Summer Learning Association, is challenging kids to Read for the World Record, to help keep kids reading and learning all summer long. Launching on April 30th, the Scholastic Summer Challenge is a global summer reading program with a robust online community for kids plus expert advice, engaging activities on Facebook and summer book lists for parents, and resources for librarians and educators - and it's all FREE. On behalf of all the readers participating in the Summer Challenge, Scholastic will make a donation of 50,000 books to kids in need through Reading Is Fundamental, a children's literacy non-profit.  

In conjunction with the Summer Challenge, Governors' Spouses from across the nation are signing up to serve as "Reading Ambassadors" to help spread the important message about reading books over the summer in their respective states. To further motivate kids to read this summer, Scholastic's Emmy Award®-winning WordGirl® will serve as the national "Ambassador of Summer Reading."

How are the Governors’ Spouses involved?
Governors’ Spouses from across the nation are signing up to serve as “Reading Ambassadors” to help spread the important message about reading books over the summer in their respective states. This is the second year the Spouses are supporting this cause. As part of their participation, Scholastic will donate 500 books to a school selected by each First Spouse, to ensure that children have books to take home to read over the summer vacation.

What is the role of Wordgirl as the National “Ambassador of Summer Reading”?
To further motivate kids to read this summer, Scholastic’s Emmy Award®-winning WordGirl® will serve as the national “Ambassador of Summer Reading.” WordGirl, produced by Scholastic Media and airing daily on PBS KIDS GO!®, is a crime-fighting superhero who uses her vocabulary strength in a never-ending battle for truth, justice and use of the right word. Along with her trusty sidekick Captain Huggy Face, WordGirl enriches children’s vocabulary, instills a love of language, and fosters better reading comprehension.  WordGirl will appear in digital ads and in promotional videos about the importance of summer reading which will air online at http://www.scholastic.com/summer/, http://www.scholastic.com/wordgirl/ and on Scholastic’s You Tube Channel. WordGirl will also be making appearances throughout the summer at select Governors’ Spouses reading events across the country.

ABOUT SUMMER CHALLENGE WEB SITE:

When does the Summer Challenge Web site launch?
The campaign and website launched on Friday April, 30^th.  Kids can register at any time throughout the summer. The campaign launched with an exciting Scholastic Summer Challenge LIVE webcast event that took place on April 30^th, a replay of the video is available at www.scholastic.com/summer. The minute logging for the Read for the World Record officially started tabulating on May 1^st.   

What is Scholastic Summer Challenge LIVE?
To kick-off summer reading and the Scholastic Summer Challenge 2010 campaign, Scholastic will host a live book-trivia game show Webcast into classrooms around the world. Four bestselling children’s authors: Christopher Paul Curtis, Gordon Korman, R.L. Stine, and Lisa Yee, will go head-to-head in the Ultimate Author Showdown, and test their knowledge in children’s book trivia. The questions for the game show will come directly from KIDS! Classrooms will be able to submit questions via email or video to see if they can stump the author! And if the author needs help… they can call on their “Call-a-Classroom” (a classroom that will be Skyped in live to help answer the question). The Scholastic Summer Challenge LIVE will be hosted live on April 30th at 1 p.m.(ET)/10 a.m.(PT) @ http://www.scholastic.com/summer/. The Webcast will also be archived for replays following the live event and will be available for viewing here: www.scholastic.com/summerreading/webcast

What is the Scholastic Read for The World Record?
This year's summer challenge unites students and schools to read in an attempt to set a new world record for summer reading. Kids choose books they want to read, then log their reading minutes at http://www.scholastic.com/summer/. Records that are set will be published in the 2011 edition of the Scholastic Book of World Records!  The overall record set for 2009 among all schools was 35,846,094 minutes logged and the winning school logged 683,057 minutes! The Read for the World Record officially starts on May 1st, 2010 and culminates on August 31st, 2010.

Who can participate in the Read for the World Record?
The site is geared to kids ages 8 and up, but all kids can participate in the Read for the World Record and log minutes read. Younger readers, ages 7 and under can also visit The Family Playground on scholastic.com, where they have their own fun challenge: for every book they read and log online, kids earn seeds to plant and grow in their own virtual reading garden. 

Can International Schools Participate in the Scholastic Summer Challenge?
Yes. The webcast is open to all schools from around the world.  They can participate and watch the live Webcast, and submit videos.

In addition, schools from the following countries are fully integrated into the Summer Challenge program (US, Canada, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, Philippines, India). Children from those countries who sign-up for the Scholastic Summer Challenge, will be able to apply their minutes read to their school. Children from other countries will be able to participate and log minutes for themselves and their country, but minutes will not specifically tie back to their school.  

All children from around the world can participate in the message boards, polls, and will be able to create their book wish lists and play book themed games.

How does a child sign up to participate?
Kids can register online at http://www.scholastic.com/summer/ anytime throughout the summer  Here are the steps to register:

1. Kids will register a screen name and password.
2. Kids will then fan their favorite Book Genre (Thrills & Chills, People & Places, Friends & Fun, Fantasy & Adventure).
3. Kids can now join the Summer Challenge and start entering minutes for the Read for the World Record.
4. Once minutes are entered, kids are automatically promoted to enter their school information, so that minutes can be applied.
5. Kids have the option to enter a parent's email address so we can ask for permission to collect and save their school information in connection with the Summer Challenge.  With parental permission, users an automatically track their schools' progress on their private Summer Challenge home pages every time they log on.  Without parental permission, users can follow their schools' progress but their school information will not be saved with their other registration information, so if they use a shared computer, public computer, more than one computer or a computer that does not accept cookies, they may have to re-enter school information every time they log-in. 

See the Summer Challenge Privacy Policy for more information about what information we collect from users and what we do with it.

Do you have to have parent permission to participate in the Scholastic Summer Challenge?
No, all children can sign up to participate in the Scholastic Summer Challenge. Kids have the option to enter a parent's email address so we can ask for permission to collect and save their school information in connection with the Summer Challenge.  With parental permission, users an automatically track their schools' progress on their private Summer Challenge home pages every time they log on.  Without parental permission, users can follow their schools' progress but their school information will not be saved with their other registration information, so if they use a shared computer, public computer, more than one computer or a computer that does not accept cookies, they may have to re-enter school information every time they log-in

Is there a cost to participate?
No, the Scholastic Summer Challenge is FREE for kids, parents, teachers, librarians, etc.

If my child signed up last year, do they need to register again?
No, if you signed up for the Summer Challenge last year, or are already a member of The Stacks on Scholastic.com, you can use the same Stacks username and password.

As a teacher, can I register my students on their behalf?
For this program, children need to register as individuals for the Summer Challenge so that their individual minutes go towards the World Record and towards their school.  As part of the sign up, kids get to select their own username and password to create their personal summer reading page, so part of the fun is the sign up!  It is a great class activity to have the kids sign up and start tracking their minutes.

My child's school is not on the list, how does my child sign up?
If your child's school is not represented on the pull down, there will be an option where they can type in their school, and Scholastic will try to find it and add it to the database. 

For the students that do not have computers at home, is it possible for them to keep a summer log and then log in their minutes when they come back in August? 
Yes, students can keep track of their minutes manually over the summer and then retroactively add them when they return to school in August. We've provided two different styles of reading logs on the Teacher Tool Kit to download (go to http://www.scholast.com/summer and click on the educator button to access). One is a bookmark, the other is a 1/2 sheet of letter-size paper. If a school doesn't start back in session until September, then they will need to ask students to come to the school in August-perhaps at a registration day-the Summer Challenge ends on August 31!

What does the Summer Challenge Web site offer for Kids?

• Kids ages 8 and up can find great books and log their reading minutes to help set a new Read for the World Record.
• The minutes logged help earn virtual rewards for each child participant and are also credited to their school.
• At the end of the summer, the top 20 schools with the most minutes logged will be featured in the 2011 edition of the Scholastic Book of World Records.
• Throughout the summer, kids can also track their minutes, play book-themed games, create and share reading wish lists, and chat about books with other readers from around the world.
• Younger readers, ages 7 and under, have their own fun challenge: for every book they read and log online, kids earn seeds to plant and grow in their own virtual reading garden.  

What does the Scholastic Summer Challenge Web site offer for Teachers and Librarians?

• Classrooms can participate in the Scholastic Summer Challenge LIVE Webcast on April 30th
• Schools participate in the Summer Challenge - Read for the World Record. Schools that log the most minutes throughout the summer will be published in the 2011 edition of the Scholastic Book of World Records!
• The Scholastic Summer Challenge site features a dedicated area where educators can track their school's participation, and sign up to receive email updates of their school's reading progress throughout the summer.
• Educators can access free resources such as: printable age-appropriate book lists, book marks, reading certificates, reading logs, and send-home letters about summer reading for parents (in English and Spanish).  
• Teachers and librarians will also have access to free lesson plans, video book resources, and engaging book activities and teaching tips, specifically geared to summer.  
• Teachers can shop the Teacher Store for special summer promotions.

What does the Scholastic Summer Challenge Web site offer for Parents and Caregivers?

• Parents can track their child's participation throughout the summer. When parents give permission for us to collect school information as described above, they can opt in to receive email updates on their child's reading progress.
• Parents can engage fully in their kids' summer reading activities on the Scholastic Facebook page (Summer Challenge tab). 
• The Scholastic Summer Challenge site will offer parents extensive age-appropriate summer book lists and articles available in English and Spanish to help parents find books their kids will want to read.  
• Parents can also explore multimedia content about kids and summer reading, get advice from education experts, download free bookmarks, activity pages, reading certificates, reading logs, and more.
• Parents can also visit the Scholastic Store Online to receive special summer book offers. 

How can I track my child/school's participation?
This is the fun part!   There will be a virtual interactive map where you can find a school and see how many students are participating and how many minutes have been logged.  You can access the map here. Kids will be able to track their school's progress once they have parental permission.

• Parents: When parents grant permission for their child to participate in the Summer Challenge program, they can opt in to receive email updates throughout the summer.

• Teachers: Coming soon, teachers can visit the Scholastic Summer Challenge and sign up to receive email updates of their school's reading progress. Teachers can sign up here

How were the books selected for the summer book lists?
Scholastic has created an extensive age-appropriate summer book list featuring books from all publishers, across all age groups for children ages 3-Young Adult.  The list was curated by teachers and vetted by Scholastic's Chief Academic Officer.

What’s on Facebook for Summer Challenge?

• Parents and educators can visit the Scholastic Facebook page (Summer Challenge tab) where they can create a customized Virtual Bumper Sticker, declaring "My Child (or School) Just Read __ Minutes" and post it on their Facebook wall to share with their friends. Throughout the summer, the bumper sticker will be updated automatically.  (to update your bumper stickers, teachers must first sign up for email updates through the Scholastic Summer Challenge.Parents will be able to opt in for email updates when they child provides their email upon registration.)
• Also on Facebook, parents and educators can download the Read for the World Record thermometer, participate in the question of the week, and share the top 5 summer book picks from kids.  

FOR SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIRS CUSTOMERS (questions related to Trial Runs or Read for the World Record):

Why does the Read for the World Record begin the following day, on May 1^st?

In order to accurately measure the results of the Read For the Word Record year over year, the official tabulation of minutes must start on Saturday, May 1^st, and end on August 31^st, the same dates as it was held last year.  But in order for classrooms around the world to participate in the exciting live webcast launch, the Summer Challenge campaign and website will officially launch on the school day prior, on Friday, April 30^th.  Therefore registration for the site, will officially begin on Friday, April 30^th.

If I participated in the Book Fairs Trial Runs, can I use the same username for the Summer Challenge?
The Scholastic Book Fairs Trial Runs and the Scholastic Summer Challenge are two separate programs, and use two separate registrations.  Beginning April 30^th, kids can sign up for the Summer Challenge and it's really easy. You can create a new username, or, if your Trial Run username isn't taken, you can use that.

FOR BOOK FAIRS CUSTOMERS WHO:

• have used Trial Runs and are not happy with Summer Challenge registration process or program
• desire an easier process for signing up
• want students under age of 8 to participate in Read for the World Record

Scholastic is offering a Summer Challenge "easy" version vs. the "full" Summer Challenge
The Scholastic Summer Challenge program offers a robust online experience, geared for kids ages 8 and up, where children can log minutes for Scholastic's Read for the World Record, in addition to participating in other interactive reading activities including: tracking reading minutes, earning virtual rewards, creating and sharing a book wish list, and chatting with fellow readers. For those teachers and students who preferred the simplicity of the Scholastic Book Fairs Trial Runs, and/or have younger students who only want to log minutes for the Read for the World Record, Scholastic Book Fairs is offering a simpler version that will mirror the Trial Runs experience.  Book Fairs customers who visit www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/record have an option to log minutes toward their school and toward the overall Read for the World Record through either the easy option or the full Summer Challenge version. We hope these options will meet the needs of all Scholastic Book Fairs customers and their students, while providing a rich summer reading experience for all kids.