National Center for Family Literacy Launches Online Summer Camp

• The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) announced today the launch of the second annual Camp What-a-Wonder — a free, national online program that provides families with interactive activities based on weekly themes to help negate summer learning loss.
• Camp What-a-Wonder stems from NCFL’s Wonderopolis^®, an online destination where children can learn through discovery, creativity and imagination. Wonderopolis features a “Wonder of the Day^®,” a fun, daily post that explores an everyday mystery.
• Camp What-a-Wonder kicks off on July 2 and runs through July 27.
  • The camp will provide a downloadable audio explore guide based on the Wonder of the Day that will take families offline for fun, interactive activities.
  • Families can participate in live, weekly Campfire Chats over Twitter (hashtag #WonderChat), hosted by celebrities/experts including Zach Slavin of the Audubon Foundation’s TogetherGreen Initiative, Jeni’s Ice Cream, and craft specialists Kathy Cano-Murillo and Angela Daniels.
• Each week’s activities are based on a different theme related to the Wonders of the Day, including Spooky Stories, Campfire Cooking, Creepy Crawling Critters and Craft-A-Palooza.
  • The first week’s theme, Spooky Stories, features a Campfire Chat with L.A.-based author of “Cowboy and Wills” Monica Holloway
  • Each week’s Wonder of the Day will be posted on Wonderopols.org/camp-what-a-wonder/.
• Recent studies have shown that summer “brain drain” can cause kids to lose up to two months’ worth of skills learned during the school year. NCFL is providing Camp What-a-Wonder in order to continue combating this trend by encouraging kids to explore and learn throughout the summer.
• 2012 Camp What-a-Wonder is a special summer program of Wonderopolis and is generously supported by Toyota. Ongoing support for Wonderopolis.org and its content is provided by the Verizon Foundation.

EXECUTIVE QUOTES

• “Once that last bell rings for summer, parents’ busy schedules and a surge of free time can make kids check out completely for a few months. The Camp What-a-Wonder program gives kids an opportunity to have fun with their families while also stimulating their minds — so they haven’t lost any of what they’ve learned once they re-enter school in the fall.” – Emily Kirkpatrick, NCFL vice president

ABOUT NCFL
The National Center for Family Literacy, founded in 1989 and based in Louisville, Ky., is the worldwide leader in family literacy. More than 1 million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers. For more information, contact1-877-FAMLIT-1 or visit www.famlit.org.