Child playing with clay molding shapes, learning and play

By Alexis Treat

(NAPSI)—For school-aged kids, summer is about relaxing after a long school year and recharging for the next one. Playdates, pool time, or afternoons at the park may be some staple components of your family’s summer power-up. Reading should be as well. Research has shown that summers spent without exposure to reading can drain your child’s literacy battery—a phenomenon known as the summer slide. Here are some fun ways to ensure your children have enough reading juice to start the fall with their minds revving and ready for action!

Early Readers

Sound Hopscotch: Exercise your mind and body! For easy indoor or outdoor play that still gets your kids moving, write letters or letter pairs, such as ch, on sheets of paper and place them on the ground. Then have children say the sound the letter makes as they hop from one to the next. Bonus points if they think of a word that starts with the sound.

Go Fish: Help your reader identify the letters of the alphabet with uppercase/lowercase letter pairs. Make pairs of cards together, i.e. A/a, G/g, R/r. Then, shuffle the cards and play Go Fish! Urge them to share a word beginning with the letter after collecting a related pair. You can even up the ante by having them make a full sentence with the word. Continue reading →

(NAPSI)—When school years come to a close, many families hit the road for vacations, camps, and college visits. This makes summer an excellent time for drivers to do a routine check to make sure their vehicle is safe—checking the tire pressure, lights, and fluid levels; confirming that there are safety supplies in the trunk; and making that scheduled visit to a dealer or mechanic to change the oil or replace the wiper blades.

One important step drivers often forget is checking for vehicle safety recalls. Unlike other vehicle maintenance, repairing a safety recall is completely free at any authorized dealer.

The Problem

A recent public opinion survey commissioned by Stellantis, maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, found that 43% of American drivers don’t know how to check if a vehicle has an open safety recall.  Continue reading →

(NewsUSA)  – As we get back to summer travel, cookouts, and time with friends and family, COVID-19 is still something to watch out for. While the virus may not be making big headlines, it hasn’t gone away. In fact, in each of the last four years, COVID-19 rates have gone up in July and August.

Why does this happen? The summer heat often means more indoor get-togethers and events in air-conditioned spaces, more travel, and more time spent around other people. These are just a few of the things that give the virus more chances to spread.

While a mild case of COVID-19 may feel like a bad cold for some, it can lead to serious health issues, hospitalization, or even death for many others. Doctors say nearly 3 out of 4 U.S. adults are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19. This includes people with common health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, asthma and other lung problems. Even adults over age 50 have a greater chance of getting sick enough to need medical care.

Vaccines are still a strong defense against COVID-19. But they may not fully protect everyone, especially those with other health issues. And whether someone’s vaccinated or not, it’s important to be prepared and know that there are antiviral treatments that can help. Continue reading →