U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, will join White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Tuesday, July 26, for the final 2011 event of the Let's Read! Let's Move! summer enrichment series, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, on the outdoor plaza of the Department's Lyndon Baines Johnson headquarters building in Washington, D.C. The Department's Let's Read! Let's Move! series aims to increase awareness of the critical importance of summer learning and encourage all adults to read to children.
Children and staff from Edward C. Mazique Parent Child Center, Inc. (Reeves Center), Children's Choice Learning Centers, District of Columbia Public Schools, Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling Youth Center, and Triangle Tots will participate in the event. The Secretary, Daley, Murray and Franken will read children's books to students. Guest character "Dora the Explorer" will also join to listen to the stories with the children and lead them to the second part of the event, where they will participate in games and fitness activities, as part of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move initiative to emphasize the importance of an active and healthy lifestyle. The YMCA of Metropolitan Washington PHD (Physical, Healthy, Driven) program will contribute staff and resources to conduct games, Target Corporation will provide books and healthy snacks and Nickelodeon will provide cookbooks and pedometers to support this summer's series of events.
As part of the Let's Read! Let's Move! series this summer, Cabinet members, administration officials and other public figures have joined Secretary Duncan in reading children's books, promoting healthy lifestyles and participating in games and fitness activities with children in pre-kindergarten through third grade, from various local schools and summer programs.
NOTE: The U.S. Department of Education does not endorse any products or services offered by either Target or Nickelodeon, and does not endorse the "Dora the Explorer" program.