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For immediate release
Sept. 12, 2016
Give Five – Read Five Puts Books in Hands of Thousands of Students
 Thanks to the statewide summer reading campaign Give Five – Read Five and similar local
efforts, thousands of public school students had access to books this summer
that they might not otherwise have had.
Throughout the spring, businesses, nonprofits, churches and
even other middle and high schools collected nearly 460,000 books for students
to take home and read to help them maintain literacy skills during summer
break. In addition, 220,000 books were read online with the myON Reader. Through a partnership with myON,
a division of Capstone, all schools were given free summer access to the
personalized literacy tool for the first time this year.
“I am so pleased that in its fourth
year, the Give Five – Read Five
program continues to grow and incorporate new avenues for providing elementary
students with books,” State Superintendent June Atkinson said. “I applaud the
participating schools, their supporting communities, and partners like myON and
MetaMetrics for their
continued hard work and dedication to reducing summer learning loss in North
Carolina.”
Atkinson first launched Give
Five – Read Five in 2013 as a way to help local districts reduce summer
learning loss. Since the campaign’s beginning, nearly 1.5 million new and
gently used books have been sent home with students as a part of Give Five – Read Five and similar
efforts. This year alone, 137 schools across 48 districts and one
charter school collected nearly 460,000 new and gently used books.
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Some schools benefitted from partnerships with organizations that specialize in campaigns with goals similar to Give Five – Read Five. Book Harvest, a Durham-based nonprofit, provided books to 8,903 elementary students in Durham Public Schools, Orange County Schools, Chatham County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools through its Books on Break program. Similarly, the WAKE Up and Read community collaboration provided more than 114,000 books to schools, childcare centers and community centers serving children in Wake County.
MetaMetrics, a Give Five – Read Five partner and Durham-based company focused on differentiating instruction and personalizing learning, donated 400 new books to students at Taylorsville Elementary School. Each child in the school will be given a book to take home and keep before winter break and new titles will be added to the school library.
“The Give Five - Read Five campaign initiated by Dr. June Atkinson has played a huge role in reducing summer reading loss across our state. As a corporate partner, MetaMetrics is pleased to provide financial support in helping students have access to books,” said CEO, President and Co-founder of MetaMetrics Malbert Smith III. The books were purchased through the First Book Marketplace. First Book is a non-profit with the mission of providing new, high quality books to children from low-income families.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is awarding prizes to schools in four different size divisions that collected the most books in independent Give Five – Read Five campaigns. The following four winners will receive a one-year subscription to a school-wide literacy tool:
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Overall Winner: Winding Springs Elementary (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools), 16,530
books collected, awarded a one-year school license to a personalized literacy
program from myON
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Small School Winner: Aberdeen Primary (Moore County
Schools), 10,399 books collected, awarded a one-year school license to Reading Horizons
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Medium School Winner: Union Elementary (Cleveland County
Schools), 5,782 books collected, awarded a one-year school license to Reading Horizons
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Large School Winner: Don D. Steed Elementary (Hoke County
Schools), 10,527 books collected, awarded a one-year site license to literacy
software from Achieve3000
For more information and a complete list of Give Five – Read Five participants,
visit the Give Five – Read Five website or contact NCDPI
Communications at 919.807.3450.
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