SmartyCard^TM, the online games service for kids in grades 3 through 6, that lets kids earn rewards through virtual currency, has joined together with Scholastic and their  Summer Challenge. The purpose of this fun and interactive challenge is to help children maintain critical reading skills during the 2009 summer break.

The Scholastic Summer Challenge program encourages kids to read for fun and for a good cause over the next four months. The program is free – sign up at  www.scholastic.com/summer.

“SmartyCard incentivizes kids to learn with its fun and interactive online educational games that let children earn their favorite online and real world rewards,” said Chris Carvalho, general manager at SmartyCard. “We’re excited to join the Scholastic Summer Challenge to engage America’s youth this summer. We’re focused on raising awareness of the danger for student regression often experienced during the traditional summer break from school. And, to show how serious we are, we’re prepared to give away millions of SmartyCard points that kids can use for real rewards.”

According to the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, a supporter of the Scholastic Summer Challenge, students can lose upwards of two months of grade level equivalency in skills over the summer months. To help prevent children from losing ground to this phenomenon, better known as the “summer slide”  or summer “brain drain,” Scholastic developed a fun and interactive Summer Challenge website at www.scholastic.com/summer to help encourage kids to keep reading and learning throughout the summer break.

With the addition of the SmartyCard partnership, every Scholastic Summer Challenge participant who reads and logs a minimum of 20 minutes is offered free SmartyCard points that can be redeemed for subscriptions and access to the most popular virtual worlds and physical rewards.

“SmartyCard shares Scholastic’s mission to help motivate kids to learn,” said Ann Amstutz-Hayes, Vice President of Scholastic InSchool. “This summer we are challenging kids to read ‘4 or more’ books to help prevent the loss of academic skills that can happen over the summer and in addition, they can earn exciting real and virtual world prizes through rewards from SmartyCard.”

Scholastic Summer Challenge

This summer, kids ages 8 and up can visit www.scholastic.com/summer to read for fun, play games and help children in need. Here’s how: once they accept the Challenge, they take a fun quiz that sorts them into one of four color teams, joining other kids from across the country and the world to record their minutes spent reading, earn points for their team, play games and chat about books. All summer long kids will be learning about Save the Children’s U.S. programs: Literacy, Early Steps for School Success, Emergency Relief and Nutrition/Physical Fitness. At the end of the summer, Scholastic will make a financial contribution to the Save the Children foundation on behalf of all the participating readers. The winning team will get to vote on which cause gets an extra donation. In addition, kids can enter for a chance to win sweepstakes for books from Scholastic, and free SmartyCard points, amongst other prizes.

Free SmartyCard Points for Challenge Participants

When kids register for the Scholastic Summer Challenge, they are presented with the opportunity to log their time spent reading age-appropriate books on the Scholastic Summer Challenge site. Participating children reading and logging just 20 minutes receive 2,500 free SmartyCard points, and children who log minutes with Scholastic throughout the summer can earn as many as 10,000 points ($20 USD value). These points can be applied to more than 200 of the most popular toys, books, DVDs and music for tweens as featured in the SmartyCard rewards catalog.

Parents and teachers can be confident Scholastic and SmartyCard are encouraging kids to retain and sharpen classroom skills honed during the school year. Both companies are dedicated to encouraging kids to find a healthy balance of “fun in the sun” and continued education this summer.

“Kids often look forward to the summer break because it promises to be packed with distractions, diversions and NO HOMEWORK,” said Leticia Barr, publisher of Tech Savvy Mama. “Learning tools like SmartyCard and programs like the Scholastic Summer Challenge encourage continued learning in environments that are motivating, fun and safe for kids of all ages and skill sets. These solutions provide benefits that parents and teachers alike can appreciate.”

About Scholastic

Scholastic Corporation (Nasdaq: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology and children’s media. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children’s books, magazines, technology-based products, teaching resources, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs and school-based book fairs, retail stores, schools, libraries, television networks and the Company’s Web site, www.scholastic.com.

About SmartyCard

SmartyCard is the first learn-earn-and-play experience to provide real and virtual rewards to tens of millions of families that believe learning at home can be fun and rewarding. Delivering homegrown games and educational content from industry leaders, SmartyCard gives families the opportunity to engage in fun and interactive online games, quizzes and lessons. As kids learn, they earn and redeem SmartyCard’s flexible virtual currency for popular rewards from popular online destinations like, ClubPenguin(TM), WebKinz, Stardoll, Bella Sara, and many more. SmartyCard’s online learn-and-earn approach to education reinforces the universal value of hard work and steers children towards a lifetime of educational achievement and success. SmartyCard is a Gazillion, Inc. company. To learn more or to begin playing, visit www.smartycard.com.

SmartyCard is a trademark of Gazillion, Inc. All other trademarks and copyright terms are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE SmartyCard

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Tags: children's literature, Education, Johns Hopkins University, Kids and Teens, Scholastic Corporation, smartycard, summer reading program, Virtual world

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