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Victoria Oswald, Joshua Chavez and Gavin Legg, students at Graham Mesa Elementary in Jo Kilmer's preschool class in Rifle, participated in the launch of this year's Raising A Reader program, which provides students with four books a week for their parents to read to them in the hopes of encouraging them to become readers. The program serves students from Aspen to Parachute.
Five-year-old Sage Allen, a student at Emmanuel Lutheran Preschool in Rifle gets very excited when she receives her weekly allotment of books in her red book bag. Her mom, Misty Allen, reads the books to Sage when she gets home before she turns them in for another batch of books.
It's all part of the national Raising A Reader program, an early childhood preliteracy program that is in its fifth year in the Roaring Fork Valley from Aspen to Parachute that operates under the Roaring Fork Valley Early Learning Fund Developing Young Minds with Raising A Reader.
The Raising A Reader book program launched this month with 92 preschool/childcare classrooms participating.
“Raising A Reader started in California eight years ago and we're the only ones doing it in Colorado,” said Judy Green, who works with the Roaring Fork Valley Early Learning Fund and the Raising A Reader program. “It's for kids from birth to 5 years old, but most of the students are in the 3- to 5-year-old age group.”
The goal of the program is to get parents to read to their children and help their kids get ready to learn to read when they go to school.
“Before they start school, they need to have an idea of what a book is about,” Green said. “They need to get the hang of the idea of words and letters.”
Children in the Raising A Reader program are given a bright red book bag that contains four age-appropriate books. At the end of the week, the books are turned in and exchanged for four more.
“By the end of the year, they've been given about 60 books to read,” Green said. “They're classics and multi-cultural books.”
The award-winning program fosters early brain development, parent-child bonding and builds pre-literacy skills. The program also fosters an understanding of the developmental significance of reading aloud to young children.
The Early Learning Fund is focused on the area's toughest, highest risk populations, including low-income families where both working parents are struggling to meet minimum subsistence standards, single parent and teen parent families and families where English is a second language. Participating programs include school district preschools, childcare centers, Head Start, Early Head Start, Even Start, family childcare homes and teen parent programs.
“Who can say no to a child's persistent request to ‘read to me!',” said Rick Blauvelt, executive director of Early Learning Fund. “Raising A Reader is effective because it taps the natural energy and curiosity of the child. Teachers provide the initial excitement about books and reading, but it is the child's persistence with their red book bag in hand, that makes it work.”
Studies have shown that last year, children involved in the Raising A Reader program scored 8 percent higher in testing than students not involved in the program. Between Silt and Parachute, there are 18 schools participating in the program.
“There is such a variety of books that I would never pick out,” Misty Allen said. “I would read the books to her and I think she loved the unknown of what was in the bag of books. The books are good quality reading and at no charge.”
The Roaring Fork Valley program is funded through Jayne Poss of Aspen, a former executive director of the Early Learning Fund and the Bezos Family Foundation, as well as various companies, businesses, municipalities and family foundations.
“We get so tickled over the kids,” Green said. “They just love the books. And it's as much about the closeness with their parents. It all ties together.”
For more information about the Early Learning Fund and the Raising A Reader program, go to www.earlylearningfund.org or contact Rick Blauvelt, rblauvelt@earlylearningfund.org or (970) 379-0950.
It's all part of the national Raising A Reader program, an early childhood preliteracy program that is in its fifth year in the Roaring Fork Valley from Aspen to Parachute that operates under the Roaring Fork Valley Early Learning Fund Developing Young Minds with Raising A Reader.
The Raising A Reader book program launched this month with 92 preschool/childcare classrooms participating.
“Raising A Reader started in California eight years ago and we're the only ones doing it in Colorado,” said Judy Green, who works with the Roaring Fork Valley Early Learning Fund and the Raising A Reader program. “It's for kids from birth to 5 years old, but most of the students are in the 3- to 5-year-old age group.”
The goal of the program is to get parents to read to their children and help their kids get ready to learn to read when they go to school.
“Before they start school, they need to have an idea of what a book is about,” Green said. “They need to get the hang of the idea of words and letters.”
Children in the Raising A Reader program are given a bright red book bag that contains four age-appropriate books. At the end of the week, the books are turned in and exchanged for four more.
“By the end of the year, they've been given about 60 books to read,” Green said. “They're classics and multi-cultural books.”
The award-winning program fosters early brain development, parent-child bonding and builds pre-literacy skills. The program also fosters an understanding of the developmental significance of reading aloud to young children.
The Early Learning Fund is focused on the area's toughest, highest risk populations, including low-income families where both working parents are struggling to meet minimum subsistence standards, single parent and teen parent families and families where English is a second language. Participating programs include school district preschools, childcare centers, Head Start, Early Head Start, Even Start, family childcare homes and teen parent programs.
“Who can say no to a child's persistent request to ‘read to me!',” said Rick Blauvelt, executive director of Early Learning Fund. “Raising A Reader is effective because it taps the natural energy and curiosity of the child. Teachers provide the initial excitement about books and reading, but it is the child's persistence with their red book bag in hand, that makes it work.”
Studies have shown that last year, children involved in the Raising A Reader program scored 8 percent higher in testing than students not involved in the program. Between Silt and Parachute, there are 18 schools participating in the program.
“There is such a variety of books that I would never pick out,” Misty Allen said. “I would read the books to her and I think she loved the unknown of what was in the bag of books. The books are good quality reading and at no charge.”
The Roaring Fork Valley program is funded through Jayne Poss of Aspen, a former executive director of the Early Learning Fund and the Bezos Family Foundation, as well as various companies, businesses, municipalities and family foundations.
“We get so tickled over the kids,” Green said. “They just love the books. And it's as much about the closeness with their parents. It all ties together.”
For more information about the Early Learning Fund and the Raising A Reader program, go to www.earlylearningfund.org or contact Rick Blauvelt, rblauvelt@earlylearningfund.org or (970) 379-0950.
