Reading is probably one of the best things that you can do to keep your brain healthy. The habit of reading has been studied heavily, and it has been proven that reading helps make minds more curious and imaginative. Reading helps with gaining a larger attention span, improves learning skills, creates a larger vocabulary, reduces stress, and many other wonderful things that help the cognitive part of the brain. Learning all of these skills and adapting to them is a trait that everyone should acquire, especially children; which is why Read across America Week was created!

National Read Across America Week is a weeklong event highlighting one of the most important parts of gaining an education, reading! Students, Parents, Teachers, and Community members celebrate the week together reading and all of the joys that come along with it. Read Across America Week was established 24 years ago in 1998, by the NEA. It was created as a way to encourage the habit of reading, and to allow children to enjoy it. Specifically, young students at Elementary School’s tend to gain the most from Read Across America Week. Depending on the school, students are sometimes allowed dress up for different “themes” each day, as if it were a spirit week. Each day of the week teachers are allowed to invite anyone they know and trust to come and read to their students. Outsiders make young kids feel important, because these people come to read to them! The importance and joy that it fills them with keeps the kids excited each day as they will have a new person come to read. Although some schools do not allow this, especially during Covid, Cherokee County elementary schools’ do! Right now teachers are in preparation, inviting former students, friends, family, and etc. to come and share the joys of reading with their students; so that next week their students can have the most magical week promoting how amazing it is to read. Over the Next week hopefully Cherokee County can work together to highlight how important reading is to these elementary school students, as a wonderful tribute not only to Read Across America Week but also to further their education.