Photo: A happy winner from last year's Mayor's Holiday Reading Challenge.

Covington preschoolers through 3rd grade invited

to participate in Read Ready Covington event

COVINGTON, Ky – Read Ready Covington’s “reading challenge” starts Wednesday for children in preschool through 3rd grade, and prizes – and learning – are on the table.

The 2023 Read Across Covington Footsteps2Brilliance Reading Challenge, which runs from March 1 to April 12, relies on two digital apps available for free.

“We know that families want the very best opportunities for their children,” said Mary Kay Connolly, director of Read Ready Covington, the City-sponsored family and community literacy initiative. “Children build stronger skills and positive attitudes about learning with the encouragement and participation of their families. Family fundamentals include listening, reading, taking turns and talking about what is being learned in Footsteps2Brilliance and Clever Kids University, and practice leads to success.”

Covington children who are ages 3 through 3rd grade or who are attending a childcare, education program or school located in the geographic footprint of the city, have access to the Footsteps2Brilliance and Clever Kids University digital apps.

Details of the reading challenge:

• How to participate: Read stories and songs daily, for a minimum of 75 minutes each week, and complete questions and activities in Footsteps2Brilliance (for children in preschool through 3rd grade), or Clever Kids University (for children in preschool through kindergarten). Children who qualify will be entered into a weekly raffle for cool prizes.

• Measuring of progress: Each child must use only their own Footsteps2Brilliance or Clever Kids University account. Log in and out with the super-secret code for each child. Parents can use their own account as well.

• The Rewards: Five student names will be drawn each week for six weeks (30 awards in all).

• Teachers: When a student’s name is drawn in the weekly raffle, that student’s teacher will receive a reward as well. (Footsteps2Brilliance makes it easy to assign lessons, monitor each student’s progress, and provide instruction or assign additional practice in Footsteps2Brilliance as needed for students.)

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The Read Ready Covington family and community literacy initiative is led by a collaboration of literacy champions across the city and region, working together so that today’s young children will be tomorrow’s educated and engaged citizens. For more information, see Read Ready Covington’s webpage.

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