First Lady Haslam Hosts a Read20 Family Book Club Event at Discovery Park Of America

Event to encourage daily reading
                              
NASHVILLE – First Lady Crissy Haslam today visited Discovery Park of America in Union City to encourage daily reading with local children from Boys & Girls Club of Northwest Tennessee and Kare Bear day care at First Baptist Church of Union City. Approximately 20 3rd grade students joined Mrs. Haslam in the museum’s Starship Theater to read the July book of the month, One Giant Leap by Robert Burleigh. Following the program, the students toured the museum’s exhibits to learn more about science, space and technology.
        
“There is tremendous academic value in reading for at least twenty minutes each day,” Mrs. Haslam said. “Daily reading can be even more important when students are out of the classroom, because children experience learning losses over the summer from simply being out of school.”

The First Lady’s Read20 Family Book Club features a new book and corresponding family activities each month as an additional tool for families to participate in daily reading. This month, the featured book is about Apollo 11, the American spaceflight that landed the first humans on the moon, to highlight public libraries’ science summer reading theme Fizz, Boom, Read!.  
 “There are wonderful museums located throughout Tennessee to help children learn about all different types of science, including astronomy, earth science and space exploration,” Mrs. Haslam said. “It can be fun for children to read about a particular topic and visit a museum, aquarium, or science center to learn more.”

Discovery Park of America, which has been opened less than one year, is the newest large scale museum in Tennessee, and it has brought more than 125,000 visitors to Union City. Inside the 70,000 square foot Discovery Center are 10 unique galleries with exhibits focused on nature, science, technology, history, and art; and the park’s 50-acre grounds feature gardens and exhibits focused on history.

For more information about Discovery Park of America visit http://www.discoveryparkofamerica.com/.  

For more information about the Read20 Family Book Club visit www.tn.gov/read20, www.facebook.com/CrissyHaslam, or follow @Read20TN on Twitter.