Context Clues Campaign Promotes Summer Reading
DoSomething.org and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation team up with actor Karan Brar to prevent "summer slide" with interactive text message game
NEW YORK, May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This summer, DoSomething.org and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation have teamed up for an interactive texting mystery game called Context Clues that inspires students to keep their reading and literacy skills sharp while taking a break from classes. Each day of participation unlocks the potential to win a $5,000 scholarship from DoSomething.org and a donation to a local library from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Players can join the game May 17 through July 31 by texting READ to 38383 or visiting DoSomething.org/read.
"It's exciting to use technology like gaming and text to reach young people and encourage reading," said Denine Torr with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. "We are not only providing basic vocabulary and comprehension challenges, but empowering youth with tools to unlock free local literacy resources. Through these resources, we hope to inspire reading this summer and eliminate barriers to book access."
Context Clues was created to prevent the "summer slide," otherwise known as the growing achievement gap between students who read over the summer and those who do not. The interactive text message game is built around the national Common Core reading standards to encourage young people to read over the summer and give them access to quality reading materials. Players will solve a mystery using different literacy-boosting puzzles and challenges in order to win. At the end of the game, users will be given an SMS locator to find their local library and will also receive a suggested reading list.
"We're helping close the resource gap that's at the heart of the "summer slide" by gamifying reading and serving up customized content that's relevant to the users' grade level," said Adam Garner, Campaigns Manager at DoSomething.org. "Context Clues also gives young people a variety of literacy tools and encourages peer to peer sharing to help them keep reading over the summer."
Karan Brar, star of Disney Channel's show Bunk'd, recorded a public service announcement encouraging his fans to join the campaign and play Context Clues.
"I'm excited to partner with DoSomething.org and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to encourage young people to keep their reading skills sharp this summer," said Karan Brar. "I play the Context Clues game on my phone and it's a great way to encourage reading."
For more information about the Context Clues campaign, visit: DoSomething.org/read.
To view the public service announcement, click here.
About DoSomething.org
One of the largest global orgs for young people and social change, DoSomething.org's 5.3 million members in 131 countries tackle volunteer campaigns that impact every cause. Poverty. Discrimination. The environment. And everything else. Our promise: Any cause, anytime, anywhere.
About the Dollar General Literacy Foundation
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation is proud to support initiatives that help others improve their lives through literacy and education as part of the company's mission of Serving Others for over 20 years. Since its inception in 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $120 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than 7.3 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy or continued education. For more information about the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and its grant programs, visit www.dgliteracy.org.
Video - https://youtu.be/bJ90LvwJ2vw
SOURCE DoSomething.org
Share this article