SALISBURY — There’s still time to give five books and help children read five over the summer.
The statewide “Give Five, Read Five” campaign ends Friday.
State Superintendent June Atkinson has challenged parents, business leaders and community members to donate five new or gently-used books to their local elementary school during May.
She said she launched the initiative because she wants every elementary school student in North Carolina to begin summer vacation with at least five new books to read.
In Rowan County, that would take 46,110 books.
To help meet this goal, people can still drop off books today and tomorrow at local schools, the Rowan-Salisbury School System administrative offices, the Salisbury Post and other participating businesses and organizations.
Atkinson plans to award the three schools that collect the most books with one-year subscriptions to online literacy programs from Achieve3000, Capstone Digital and Scholastic.
Woodleaf Elementary School is sponsoring a book swap Friday morning to align with the “Give Five, Read Five” initiative. The school is collecting 2,200 books for students to have a morning book swap to choose new books to take home to read over the summer.
The school’s PTA donated funding for the purchase of new books to help the school reach its goal. This will allow every child to take home five books.
On Friday, Woodleaf Elementary also plans to dedicate its newly purchased $30,000 book room, made possible with grant funds from the Blanche and Julian Robertson Foundation and the Ritchie Foundation.