The Salt River Family Read-Aloud Challenge is being promoted by Salt River Schools to encourage all Salt River families to gather together to tell stories and read aloud.

The challenge lasts for 90 days, and the goal of the challenge is for each family to complete 25 oral stories or books by May 4. 

To encourage traditions within the Community, oral storytelling will count toward the challenge, and all Community families are invited to participate.

“This is a reading challenge with a twist!” said District Literacy & Tutor Coordinator Kathy Tucker. “These habits embrace O’odham and Piipaash storytelling traditions and form the foundation for sharing values, beliefs and interests while developing a lifelong love of reading.”

Families can simply name their story and enter it on one of the pages in their Family Read-Aloud Journal, which will be given out to each family. Each story told or book read is recorded in this journal. 

Families can start the challenge at any time, reading any books or sharing any stories they would like. For those reading a particularly long book, 50 pages counts as a full book, so they may have multiple entries for a single book title.

“Telling stories and reading aloud is very beneficial to everyone, whether it is a baby just learning to talk, children learning to read, or young adults and families learning their culture and sharing their world,” said Tucker.  

“These habits are the best way to support your child’s academic progress, from birth and year after year. It is a great opportunity, and we expect to repeat the challenge in the future.” 

There will be prizes for getting started on the challenge and prizes when participants are halfway through. At end of the challenge, families will submit a video, picture or email of their progress and more prizes will be awarded.

Contact Literacy@saltriverschools.org or call (480) 362-2063 to arrange for materials for the challenge and to receive more books for your family.