Let's Read! Let's Move! helps students' body and mind

The Common Core State Standards and the higher level of instruction they provide will not be all K-12 students need to achieve classroom success. Kids will also need to keep their mind and body healthy, which is why the Let's Read! Let's Move! initiative exists.

Created by the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for National and Community Service, the initiative is designed to keep students physically active and engaged in learning over summer vacation, according to the Department's blog. The goal of Let's Read! Let's Move! is to prevent summer reading loss and childhood obesity before they can harm students' academic progress.

For many pupils, summer learning loss is a major problem. For example, low-income students can lose more than two months worth of reading achievement during their time away from the classroom, according to the National Summer Learning Association. Meanwhile, the number of children between 6 and 11 years old who are considered obese has risen from 7 percent in 1980 to nearly 18 percent in 2010.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently appeared at a Washington, D.C., event, where he and other volunteers provided kids with a variety of healthy and educational activities.