Philadelphia Reads
Did you miss our BCG Reads Twitter chat this past Wednesday night? If you did let me be the first to tell you, that you missed an amazing social conversation surrounding the topic of reading and literacy in America. We were joined by Amy Purdy of PHILADELPHIA READS. Philadelphia Reads is a Non-profit supporting Children’s Literacy in Philadelphia in the extraordinary ways. Their mission is to strengthen literacy skills of Philadelphia’s youngest and neediest youth by providing mentors and resources for in and out of school programs.
Amy provided us with great insight on why it’s imperative our kids can read by the end of third grade; all studies show that the best chance to improve reading skills and the chance at a better future needs to happen before the end of third grade. Consider this fact for one, it’s estimated that upwards of 27 stated including: Texas, Florida, Arizona and Kentucky determine the number of prisions to build based on fourth grade reading test scores, in particular those of black and hispanic boys. Amy took the time to let Philly families know of some of the programs and services available to the families of inner city Philadelphia children. Here’s a brief breakdown of those programs and tips.
- Book Bank — a free “book store” for teachers (pre-school to 4th grade) to stock their classroom libraries. There is virtually no budget for classroom library books in public schools. Teachers typically pay for classroom library books out of pocket. Classroom teachers from public, private, parochial, pre-schools and charter schools are provided with up to 300 books for their classroom libraries, per year — depending on class size.
- Power Partners – a literacy mentoring program where the mentors are corporate volunteers. This is a Corporate Social Responsibility program that matches classes of children, grades 1 – 3 with a company, whose employees are trained as reading mentors.
- Reading Olympics – Parents can also connect their children’s schools with the Phila Reading Olympics, the city’s largest reading competition!
- During the summer Philadelphia Reads also provides a summer literacy curriculum that prevents summer learning loss will be in many Philly city summer sites.
For more information on Philadelphia Reads visit philareads.org.
Later in the chat we we’re joined by Darla Bunting, co-chair of First Book DC and a former elementary school literacy teacher. Darla lit a fire under the chat and provided a host of tips and resources for parents and teachers. Check out the recap of these great tips and use them to help shape the future of your child.
- Parents can teach their child the 5 finger rule to help them select “just right” books at the library or bookstore. Steps:
- 1. Have their child select a book. 2. Turn to the second page of text. 3. Read the page. 4. As the child comes to a word that they do not know, have the child put up a finger. 5. If the child puts up all 5 fingers, the book is not just right and they should choose another book.
- Choosing “just right” books is important because it ensures that the child isn’t frustrated reading and it builds confidence.
- Here are a few free websites and online resources for reading:
Starfall starfall.com, Reading A – Z readinga-z.com, PBS Kids pbskids.org/lions and Jumpstart jumpstart.org. - Looking to help your child read? Darla provided some questions you can ask your child before, during and after reading a book. “Before reading a story parents can use the title, front and back cover to have their child predict what may happen,” said Darla. During reading, parents can also ask questions to help their child connect with the characters and situations.
To learn more about First Book visit www.firstbook.org and be sure to follow Darla on Twitter @DarlaBunting!
Tons of incredible tweets, suggestions and insight was shared, I highly encourage you to visit your Twitter page and check the hashtag #BCGReads! We also have free books to giveaway so if you would like a book for your child, send us their name, age, reading level, grade level and interests, we’ll match up a great book for you them and ship it to you in the mail. To receive your free book, simply email BCGReads@BlackCelebrityGiving.com! I’ll leave you with this quote “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents,” ~ Emilie Buchwald.
