By Lauren Martin | Executive Director
To reach the highest need children in New York City, we have partnered with 3 new daycares in the South Bronx. For the first time, 200 children living in the Bronx River Housing community took home free books to build home libraries. Their parents are now receiving an entire year of weekly text messages and emails containing eBooks and literacy tips proven to increase early childhood vocabulary.
I am particularly excited to partner with these daycares because they are located just a few blocks from where I once taught middle school students with learning disabilities. Why is this so important to me? While teaching, I noticed that 9 of 10 students did not have an actual reading disability; they had a reading deficit. They read 4 - 6 years below grade level solely because of their limited vocabularies. I began researching the most effective vocabulary interventions, but found that preschool was too late; No school-age (K - 12) intervention had ever successfully closed the vocabulary gap. I decided to reach children before they had experienced years of failure and disability misclassification. I founded Word Rebel to empower parents to prioritize vocabulary instruction before prechool - despite limited time, money and other socioeconomic barriers.
In 8 short years, the 200 children in the Bronx River Housing community will start middle school. Thank you for helping these children learn the preschool vocabulary that will determine their reading ability from kindergarten through high school graduation.
We cannot thank you enough for making it all possible.
Photos by Tremont Crotona Day Care Center and Children's Aid Society.
By Lauren Martin | Executive Director
By Lauren Martin | Executive Director
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