Fill our "Raising a Reader" Bags to Promote Childhood Literacy - Palatine

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Children from low-income households trail behind their higher-income counterparts in literacy at an astounding rate. According to research, youth from low-income families typically score at or above the average level in reading at half the rate of children from more privileged homes. Poverty negatively affects both material resources and learning resources, whichyouth need to achieve early literacy development. Research shows that there is a drastic difference between access to these material resources in impoverished communities as compared to wealthier communities: in low-income communities, only one book title is available for every 300 children, as compared to 13 book titles available for every child in middle-class communities.

The Raising A Reader program allows staff to work with children and parents of various cultural backgrounds and literacy levels to teach them how to engage in language sharing and reading activities through the use of culturally sensitive books. Children receive "Red Book Bags" filled with books and materials to use at home. Parents are given training and support to engage in "Book Cuddling" activities at home. By involving the entire family in Raising A Reader activities, parents become positive role models for reading. In addition to building the relationship between parent and child, Raising A Reader programming also helps ignite a love for education in low-income children which, in turn, helps to put them on equal footing with their middle- to upper-class peers once they enter Kindergarten.

Volunteers are needed weekly to help re-stock the Raising a Reader bags, checking in the books from the previous list, and sending out new books for the families for the next week. This Job could be done anytime mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday) anytime that the center is open (Between 8:30am and 5:30pm). Ideally a volunteer would be able to make a commitment for 6 months or longer. If this volunteer decided they would also like to spend some time working with children in the classrooms, this could be supplemental to the Reading Bags project.