Education United States Project #15877

Bring Bilingual Books & Materials to Children 0-8

by Raising A Reader

Bring Bilingual Books & Materials to Children 0-8

Project Report | Jun 14, 2017
Empowering Young Parents

By Jenna Nguyen | Manager of National Strategic Partnerships

Florence Crittenton Services of Denver is on a mission to educate, prepare, and empower teen mothers and their children to become productive members of the community. The organization has been serving women and their children for more than 120 years and continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of the community. They focus on the academic, physical, and mental success of these young women as individuals and as parents by providing education, supplies, and the necessary services to ensure success. A critical part of their focus includes preparing children socially, emotionally and cognitively for kindergarten. In 2016, the RAR program was available to 150 infants and toddlers at Florence Crittenton Services of Denver.

The RAR program is introduced to the mothers when their babies are just 6 weeks old. Young mothers often express concern about looking or feeling silly when reading aloud. Staff at Florence Crittenton Services host quarterly literacy luncheons where they demonstrate book sharing methods and practices to work towards breaking down barriers to help moms grow more comfortable reading out loud with their babies. Exposure to the program when their babies are so young has been a successful way to help encourage engagement and interaction which benefits mom and baby alike.

For toddlers, RAR is included in the curriculum of the children as an in-class activity. While the red bags stay in the class, they are rotated weekly so children are exposed to different books at each visit. Mothers are encouraged to stay and read in the comfy book corner with their child during the beginning or end of class. As with every successful RAR program, the children drive the process and their excitement motivates the mothers to read and share the stories. One mother had this to say about the program, “Raising A Reader has brought so much creativity to me and my son. His vocabulary has improved drastically since he started the Raising a Reader program in September 2016. Raising A Reader made my son see the fun, skills and the importance in reading books.” Another little girl was so excited about the books in the bag that she would exchange them three times a week! Families also have weekly visits from the public library to encourage the mothers to continue the book sharing outside of their classes at Florence Crittenton.

Florence Crittenton Services of Denver is a true testament of how the Raising A Reader program can be scaled to fit the needs of the families being served. With your support, we will continue the good work of bringing our proven literacy program to more families across the US.

Permalink

Mar 20, 2017
Silas and Fernando

By Jenna Nguyen | Manager of National Strategic Partnerships

Raising A Reader is implemented across the country at a variety of agencies. Make Way for Books (MWFB) is an early literacy organization in Tucson, Arizona that understands access to books is essential to developing basic reading skills, leads to longer and more frequent shared reading between parents and children, and produces increased enjoyment of books and improved attitude towards reading and academics. They have been utilizing the Raising A Reader program to fulfill their mission and have a positive impact on the families in their community. Each year, MWFB serves more than 30,000 children and families and 700 educators.

We'd like to share a story about a boy named Silas. Silas and his mom Melissa have been participating in the Raising A Reader program through Make Way for Books for three cycles. She had these incredible words to share about Silas' experience with his educator, Fernando:

"Silas is so excited to bring home his bag of books and when people come over her likes to drag his bag across the living room and into someone's lap to have them read to him. Every Friday when I tell him its time for book club he gets so excited to go.

What I have not told you is that Silas was born prematurely and is a bit slower than other kids his age, but I think this program is helping him reach the goals that we are striving for [in his development]. I think that one of the reasons why we love coming to Raising A Reader so much is your staff. Fernando Gonzalez is an amazing person!!! He has been at all our book clubs that we have attended with you and Silas loves him. When we were at our 1st session Silas was shy and did not want to go to other people; however, he warmed right up to Fernando and wanted to be with him all the time.

Fernando is such a kind loving person to the kids at book club and helps the parents understand why the things he says helps our children. He is excellent at teaching us parents new techniques to work on with our children and that it’s ok for us to get frustrated when our children don't do what we expect them to do. He is very helpful in us understanding why our children act the way they do and in helping us to learn how to get them motivated to do the activities we are attempting. Every child in our group loves Fernando as do the parents! Thank you for having such a wonderful employee, and for allowing him to be a part of our children's lives, Silas says thanks too!!!"

It is stories like these, and children like Silas, that demonstrated the impact reading and family engagement can have on a child. Raising A Reader is proud of the remarkable work Make Way for Books is carrying out, and grateful for staff like Fernando who truly care and live the mission of both Make Way for Books and Raising A Reader.

Permalink

Dec 28, 2016
A Michigan Community Comes Together Through RAR

By Jenna Nguyen | Manager, National Strategic Partnerships

Just over five years ago Calhoun Intermediate School District (Calhoun ISD) brought Raising A Reader (RAR) to the Battle Creek, Michigan community. The program has grown from 20 sites to 90, reaching 6,030 children. While the main focus of Calhoun ISD’s RAR program is reaching children 0-5 years old, they have expanded to serve children through the second grade in after school programs.

Calhoun ISD serves a large number of Burmese families who have moved to the area in the last few years as refugees along with a large number of Japanese families who are in Battle Creek for temporary work assignments. In fact, with RAR’s help Calhoun ISD has been able to provide a selection of books published in both English and Burmese in addition to RAR books that have been translated with the help of local Burmese organizations. The Burmese text is added to the books on clear labels which are adhered to each page next to the English text. These Burmese books are now rotated within the majority of locations.

The amazing work being done in Battle Creek has truly been that of a community effort.

A local Lion’s Club hosts an annual spaghetti dinner to benefit RAR in their community. It was at this dinner that a gentleman from the club made an introduction of the RAR coordinator to his wife, a bus aide for a special needs school bus. This connection led the students on her bus to now receive the RAR program.

A mother, whose two daughters participated in RAR, was such a fan of the program that she joined the team at Calhoun ISD to help further the work being done in the community. Her oldest daughter received a special award for reading more books than anyone else in her class, while her youngest daughter delights in reading her memorized favorite “The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear.” The staff at Calhoun ISD feels so strongly about RAR, not only because of the community involvement and family enjoyment, but because they have four years of data proving that it is having a positive and beneficial impact for the families of over 6,000 children.

The community involvement in Battle Creek has helped strengthen the integrity of RAR and maximize its reach. Calhoun Intermediate School District strives to reach all families and cultures in the community and look forward to what the future holds.

Permalink

‹ 1 ... 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ... 17 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.