READY TO READ

In an effort to increase achievement and encourage competence and success, reading initiatives have blossomed. However, it is also important to look at the other areas of literacy development — speaking, listening, and writing — to ensure complete development. All literacy development begins from birth and each area of literacy development contributes to the development of the others, allowing children with well-rounded literacy learning opportunities to achieve higher levels of comprehension and success. Early childhood educators have a particular responsibility to play a significant role in this endeavor, as the early years are ideal for introducing and supporting all of these skills and competencies. 

Our goal is to increase daily reading in the homes of economically at-risk children. The primary benefit of reading to preschoolers is a higher aptitude for learning. In addition, reading aloud to young children builds their speech, language, and logical thinking skills by teaching them to grasp abstract concepts, apply logic in various scenarios, recognize cause and effect, and utilize good judgment. Children learn that reading is fun, and it gives each child a head start as they prepare for school. 

Parents are their child’s first and most important teacher. We need them as partners in the education of their children. Parents reading to their child is one of the best methods to increase both child and parent’s literacy skills. Unfortunately, many parents are unable to purchase quality, age-appropriate books to use in their home. 

Your financial support enables us to continue improving early literacy and language development skills along with nurturing a love of reading in the children that are enrolled in our program while helping their families to engage with their children. We began this approach a few years ago after being involved in a research project conducted by Lehigh University and Ohio State University. 100% of your donation will directly fund the purchase of books appropriate for ages 3-5 to support family literacy.

Federal funding does not allow grantees to purchase materials for children that are used at home. Our goal is to provide 1 book per quarter (2060 books) to each child in our program (515 children x $5.50 per book x 4 quarters = 11,330).

With your continued support, we will continue to improve early literacy and language development outcomes for our children and continue to instill kindness and empathy to make this world a better place! We help families understand that early literacy and increasing family reading time is important. We carefully select the books to focus on social-emotional skills which research has indicated builds strong resilience in children to prepare them for school and a lifetime of learning.