Walkerton-Lincoln Township Library serves many low income families in a small rural community with limited access to early childhood literacy programs, particularly for ESL learners. By using the Raising A Reader program, we will be able to empower parents to understand the importance of sharing books with their child and provide resources (240 books, materials and workshops) needed to develop sustainable habits. Over seven years, this program will be able to serve 1,000+ children.
Nearly half of all US children enter kindergarten lacking the basic reading skills necessary for school success. Often the deficits that begin early grow and persist over school careers. Once children enter kindergarten behind, they rarely catch up. One of the most effective ways to effectively prepare children for success is by reading to them regularly, yet very few programs offer families the books, materials, training and support they need to help prepare children for a lifetime of learning.
The project will fund the Raising A Reader program, a proven evidence-based model that provides books, materials, curriculum, training and workshops that help families develop the critical practice of book sharing in order to give the most vulnerable children the literacy and language tools they need. By understanding how book sharing can improve brain function in children, parents are empowered to become their child's first teacher and take an active, participatory role in their education.
Raising A Reader provides support to vulnerable families by improving the language and literacy skills of children at risk of educational failure, strengthening parent-child relationships and family educational involvement. By implementing the program in partnership with Walkerton-Lincoln Township Library, it will also develop a bridge that will connect 50+ families in the community to the library/year and close achievement gaps so children can enter Kindergarten prepared and ready for success.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
