This year’s Reading is an Investment program is in full swing. Sponsored by the State Treasurer and the Oregon College Savings Plan, it aims to promote literacy and financial education among K-5 elementary students in Oregon.
As part of RII, public elementary school libraries in Oregon are receiving two free books: Pigs Will be Pigs: Fun With Math and Money, by Amy Axelrod and Sharon McGinley-Nally, and the Rock, Brock, and the Savings Shock, by Sheila Bair and Barry Gott. Homeschoolers and students in private elementary schools are welcome to participate, but do not receive donated books.
The biggest program component is encouraging kids to read or be read to, and the books should relate to money and finances. Students must read at least three books from the recommended reading list, and they will track their time in increments of 20 (read-to-me kids) or 40 (independent readers) minutes. Participants may fill out a reading log up to 10 times, and the log counts as an entry for the Oregon College Savings Plan drawing.
The second page of the reading log has a detailed explanation of how to participate.
For students to be eligible for one of the fifty $500 college savings plan scholarships, their entries must be received by March 31, 2012.
(The winners’ schools also receive $500.)
Need the program information in Spanish?
If you have any questions about Reading is an Investment, contact Nicki McMillan, Executive Assistant in the Office of the State Treasurer, at 503-378-4329 or reading.investment@ost.state.or.us
Schools are also encouraged to combine RII with Banking on Our Future, a financial skills program for 4th–8th graders. The free program is taught by professionals in the Oregon community. This four-hour program covers four important topics: budgeting, credit, accounts and savings and investing, and can be scheduled to fit each teacher’s needs.
Happy reading!