When schools went to remote learning due to the coronavirus pandemic, parents had to think fast about how to keep their kids engaged in learning.
Real Dawgs Read, a UW program that typically asks kids to read 30 minutes a day over 30 separate days during the summer, was there to help fill the gap. The program ran a special session between March 25 and June 5 and experienced its highest level of participation 鈥� with 3,240 readers taking part 鈥� in its 5-year existence. Households from Aberdeen to Seattle to Colfax submitted completed journals and got free Husky gear and a reading certificate.
Since 2015, Real Dawgs Read has helped K-8 students across the state experience the joy of reading. Students fill out a reading journal and send it to the UW Office of Trademarks & Licensing, which administers the program. In exchange, elementary and middle-school students get donated Husky merchandise. The program has partnered with Title I schools 鈥� where more than half the students receive free or reduced-price lunch 鈥� working with teachers and librarians to get the word out and distribute the reading journals.
When schools closed in early March due to COVID-19, a librarian at a Title I school in South Seattle reached out to Karin Mellskog in Trademarks & Licensing to ask whether anything might happen with Real Dawgs Read; he was worried about students. That echoed conversations she was already having with her colleague Kathy Hoggan, who founded the program.
鈥淲e thought: We wish there was something we could do for kids stuck at home in an environment that might not be very conducive to learning,鈥� Mellskog said. 鈥淲e wanted to give them some kind of inducement to read. That sparked the idea to offer Real Dawgs Read this spring.鈥�
Since there wasn鈥檛 enough time to print the reading journals, they hurried to put up a website and offered the journal online for download. After they sent the website to the Real Dawgs Read mailing list, word spread. People reported seeing fliers on a bulletin board in a Bellevue YMCA and other locations outside the program鈥檚 normal school-based reach. Trademarks & Licensing also happened to have a wider range of merchandise available 鈥� so kids could choose between a hat, socks or a hoodie, which ended up being the biggest hit.
This resulted in record-breaking numbers for the program, which saw around 50 participants in 2015 and surpassed 3,000 this spring. Donors of this year鈥檚 merchandise included and .
Several parents expressed their appreciation through emails and notes.
鈥淚t totally motivated my eight-year old son to read daily during this quarantine. He was insistent to read each night with me for the full 30 minutes 鈥� something that until then had been hard to get him to do,鈥� one parent wrote in an email. 鈥淢y son already made a new 30-day log for himself with a book as the new reward. We鈥檝e made him a reader!鈥�
Another parent wrote, 鈥淢y son was reading for school already, but as soon as the opportunity to earn a hat came along, he was transformed into the avid reader. He read first thing in the morning every day and carefully recorded it in his log.鈥�
Harold Baker, a father of two students in Seattle Public Schools, said his oldest daughter was reading a chapter book each day during the challenge.
鈥淲e have to slow her down because she will read us out of house and home!鈥� he joked. 鈥淗er sister is learning to read, too, and has grown tremendously during our stay-at-home time.鈥�
When Mellskog and Hoggan created Real Dawgs Read, they wanted to help kids develop a regular reading habit and a love of reading. The feedback from parents and teachers is reaffirming.
鈥淩eal Dawgs Read is a very unique program in higher education,鈥� Mellskog said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very motivated and proud to manage a reading program that benefits specific, underserved communities all over the state of Washington, and grateful that we were able to open it up to a wider audience during the Governor鈥檚 stay-at-home orders this past spring.鈥�
For more information, contact UW Trademarks & Licensing at realdawgs@uw.edu. Learn more about Real Dawgs Read here.