Take the Read to ME Challenge runs through March 2

AUGUSTA — Maine’s first lady launched the Read to ME Challenge Feb. 2 at the Blaine House. Reflecting on how she and her husband, Gov. PaulLePage, raised their children by reading to them and exploring the world through reading.

“I knew that when a child learns to read,” she said, “there is nothing they can’t learn, imagine or accomplish in life.” Reading to children of military families, the first lady shared two books, “Groovy Joe: Ice Cream” and “Dinosaurs and Baxter in the Blaine House,” with her captive audience.

Once the children studied the brilliant illustrations of the Blaine House, they were offered the chance to explore and see some of the rooms depicted in the story book. First lady LePage challenged Brig. Gen. Douglas Farnum of the Maine National Guard. The Maine DOE’s Read to ME Challenge runs through March 2, Read Across America Day.

Maine DOE literacy specialist Lee Anne Larsen wants the momentum to last all month long. “Our goal is to promote the critical importance of reading to and with children from birth through their childhoods. When children are read to regularly, their vocabulary grows, they build knowledge of the world, they stimulate their imaginations, and they discover how words communicate ideas.”

The challenge is simple. Read with a child for at least 15 minutes, capture a photo or video, post it on social media with the hash tags #ReadtoME or #ReadaloudME, and nominate others to do the same.

Creative ways of completing the challenge are encouraged — for example, read to a child using FaceTime or Skype. If preferred, you can complete the challenge by listening to audiobooks with a child.

You can reach Lee Anne Larsen at leeann.larsen@maine.gov to learn more about Maine DOE’s Read to ME Challenge. Go ahead, take the challenge!