Family Literacy

Most children in our neighborhood start kindergarten already behind, and many never catch up. One of the most dependable ways to change that costs very little: put books in the house. Researchers keep finding the same thing, that the number of books in a child’s home predicts how far that child goes in school, no matter what the parents earn or how far they went themselves. In neighborhoods like ours, children’s books are scarce. So we give them away, constantly. For example,  

Atkins Literacy Bags. Four times during the school year, children at Atkins Elementary take home a bag with books, activities, healthy snacks, and hygiene items. The books stay with the child.

The Thursday bookshelf. A bookshelf in our waiting room holds free books for every age, and it is open every Thursday night. Families take what they want. Nobody signs anything.

Books handed to parents. On Thursday nights we put preschool books straight into the hands of parents waiting with little ones, and into the hands of the children themselves. It takes a minute, and it is the most direct thing we do.

Summer camp. Campers go home at the end of the summer with books of their own.