Clifford the Big Red Dog visits Explore classes

Literary giant, Clifford the Big Red Dog, visited all of Springfield Public Schools’ elementary students last week to celebrate the end of Explore summer learning and encourage students to keep reading. 

In addition to high fives and hugs, Clifford and Scholastic gave books to the students with perfect attendance during Explore. These students have spent the month of June continuing to learn and read in their classes. This is particularly important to help students avoid the “summer slide” where they get out of the habit of learning during the summer break. 

Despite being published in 1963, it’s clear that students still love Clifford just as much today. Between screams of joy and jumps of excitement, each kid got to interact with Clifford, and some even shared drawings with him.

As seated Explore classes wrap up for 2026, it was great to have such a BIG character come to help the kids celebrate their achievements and encourage them to continue learning and reading throughout the rest of the summer.