Share Your Love of Reading With Words Alive This May!

By Max Greenhalgh

A picture from last year's Share Your Love of Reading campaign! The VIP reader had students get up and dance!

May is here, and that means it’s time to #ShareYourLoveofReading! You can make an impact on society just by sharing what you love to read and why. Reading is a vital skill to have, and one that isn’t as common as you might think. According to conservative estimates, approximately one-fifth of high school graduates are functionally illiterate. This means that while about 20% of our high school graduates may be able to read and write at basic levels, they cannot do so well enough to succeed easily in jobs or other day-to-day activities.

This epidemic isn’t just affecting high schoolers. Problems with illiteracy start before elementary school does. According to a 2015 Department of Education report, six out of 10 kindergarten students enter their new classrooms unprepared. With this many students starting out with a disadvantage, it’s no wonder that about 40% of fourth graders aren’t reading up to grade level standards. This fourth grade number is especially significant, as this is when reading starts to be used to learn about other subjects, severely hampering those who struggle with reading in all other subjects going forward.

This is why it is so important to #ShareYourLoveofReading! If you can make a mark on one mind, old or young, you're working to improve the state of literacy, and this effect can snowball. Kids often unintentionally push their classmates to do better in school by leading by example, and adults can push the children in their lives to pick up a book. 

Reading aloud is one of the keys to creating enthusiastic, skilled young readers. A University of Kansas study has concluded that consistently reading to children can increase their I.Q. test scores at age 3, as well as improving overall vocabulary and fluency of language. While talking to kids is still a great way to increase intelligence, reading is even better, as we tend to speak more lazily (and with more grammatical mishaps) when not reading from a page. In a survey run by Scholastic, a shocking 83% of kids said that they loved it or liked it a lot when their parents read aloud to them, while merely about 20% of children aged six to 11 said that they still get read to at home.

Literacy is vital in all professions, even in jobs you might not expect. Those working in more physical occupations need to be functionally literate in order to safely operate equipment, follow detailed instructions correctly, and prevent workplace injuries by following safety manuals and regulations. Furthermore, engineers, scientists, and mathematicians all need to communicate their potentially game-changing ideas to their peers and all of the world, so neglecting reading due to an expertise in another subject isn’t a viable way to prepare for success in this other field.

The bottom line is this: reading is important for everyone, not matter your occupation, and reading aloud to kids is one of the best ways to inspire a love of reading. These are the reasons why this May, for our #ShareYourLoveOfReading campaign, we are inviting very special "VIP" readers of varying professions into our elementary school classrooms to read to students! This will truly help drive home the message to young kids in our Read Aloud Program how important reading is and how fun it can be!

A #shelfie from last year's Share Your Love of Reading campaign! The picture features a young baby surrounded by books! You're never too young to start reading!

A lone drop of water can make a rippling effect dozens of times that drop’s size, and your efforts this May can be a drop of water with a huge effect. Who knows who you might inspire without even realizing it? If you’d like to chime in and share your love of reading with us, here’s what you can do:

1. Take a #shelfie. Take a picture of yourself in front of your bookshelf or with your favorite book, post it on social media (while tagging #ShareYourLoveofReading and #Shelfie), and encourage your coworkers, friends, and family to do the same. This will help Words Alive get the word out about the importance of literacy, and maybe even inspire some fruitful, book-based discussions in your comment sections! Don't forget to tag @WordsAliveSD in your post!

2. Donate! Throughout May, we're looking to increase our number of sustaining donors! Monthly donations provide consistent funding for our programs that we can count on. For as little as $5 a month you can sponsor a new set of books for a classroom! Find out more here.

3. Keep following those hashtags! Words Alive will be bringing in some surprise VIP readers to read aloud to classrooms in the San Diego area. We'll also be posting images of our incredible Board, Staff, and volunteers throughout the month, with quotes explaining why reading is important to them! Sharing these images will help to spread awareness about the importance of literacy.

4. Volunteer! Words Alive is always looking for those willing to work towards improving literacy in San Diego. Check out your options here.

We can't wait to see how you #ShareYourLoveOfReading this May! 

For more information about Words Alive, please click here.

Why Do We Read Aloud?

By Jennifer van Pelt

A picture of a young student paying rapt attention to a volunteer as they read a book aloud.

Why is Reading Aloud Important?

A child’s first exposure to books is normally when their parents or guardians first read aloud to them. Through this, they become familiar with the way in which a book is read from front to back, the plot line, and the dialogue between characters. This seems to be a given for children, however, it is so much more than that. According to Richard Anderson in his report titled “Becoming a Nation of Readers”: “The single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” As the report goes on to describe, this is not only so children can follow along with your finger and start to recognize words and sounds -- though these are the starting steps. The teacher or parent needs to engage the child by asking questions about the story that makes them think and relate the story to real life events.

Can it Benefit Others Aside From Children?

Reading aloud is often a strategy employed in early years of schooling, but fades away with time -- but there is no reason for it to! It can be beneficial to teens and adults that never got the experience of participating in read alouds when they were younger. Reading aloud to older children and adults can assist them by giving them context clues to words, tones, or emotions associated with the story. Often times, the mere act of discussing or listening to others speak can help comprehension. There are a few different learning styles that vary from student to student: auditory, read/write, visual, and kinesthetic. Reading aloud touches on the auditory aspect for the students in the classroom, but it also can hit on the read/write learning style as well when the student follows the words in the books as the teacher reads aloud. This is important in the student knowing how to recognize new vocabulary words for the future.

Bridging the Gap

While reading aloud in the classroom is expected for the first few years of school, it is also important that these activities take place in the home. As cited by readaloud.org, 48% of families below the poverty level read to their preschoolers each day, compared with 64% of families whose incomes were at or above the poverty level. This disparity continues into the classroom when the child has less exposure, less practice, and is overall less comfortable than the students who regularly hear and experience books in the home. Getting these students their own books is the first step to bridging this gap.

At Words Alive, we focus on the students who do fall below the poverty line and haven’t had the amount of exposure to reading that some of their counterparts may have had at home. We believe in the power of reading aloud so much that we have a program for young children called The Read Aloud Program. This program focuses on Preschool through 3rd grade students and brings trained volunteers into the classroom to read aloud to approximately 4,300 children from low-income communities every week. This helps to level the playing field and give these students the opportunity to increase their comprehension and comfort level with reading early on so they can reach eventual success in reading. To find out more information about our Read Aloud Program or the other literacy programs we offer, head to our Programs page.

For more information about Words Alive, please click here.

Sources:

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED253865.pdf

http://www.readaloud.org/why.html

Let's Celebrate National Library Week!

By Jennifer van Pelt

An image of a library. Hundreds of books on bookshelves appear in the image. Photo credit: square(tea) on flickr

What is National Library Week?

April 8th kicks off the 60th anniversary of National Library Week. This week is focused on the importance of books and libraries as well as their contribution to society. Libraries and their patrons across the country are encouraged to participate via social media, contests, events, and fundraisers. The American Library Association (ALA) has partnered with several notable advocates and authors over the years with the goal of promoting reading and the usage of libraries.

Why The Focus on Libraries?

April is also designated by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) to be School Library Month. These two celebrations remind us of the importance of libraries beyond the obvious destination for books. Libraries are a free resource where members of the community can learn to read at any age, get the support needed to find a job, or bring their children to participate in read-alouds.

It is important that children have this exposure to books, and libraries provide the perfect opportunity with their knowledgeable workers and friendly volunteers. Librarians understand that not everyone is literate, so they provide tutors to help teach reading skills, a safe environment to learn about books, and the means to show children the value of reading. At Words Alive, we serve low-income, and sometimes homeless students. School and public libraries are the ideal place for them to go to learn and participate in a variety of activities that can also further their literacy skills, including homework help and art workshops.

What Can I Do To Support Libraries?

Thursday, April 12, is particularly focused on advocating for libraries and taking action on what matters. This year, Take Action for Libraries Day, will be centered around safeguarding funding that libraries depend on. This involves reaching out to local politicians to show your support for libraries, as legislation and tax reforms can affect them. Check your local library’s social media page to see if they mention something about this is in the works and see how you can help!

Alternatively, show your support by becoming a member at your local library! There are so many other benefits libraries provide aside from borrowing books. Most libraries partner with various volunteer groups to help out with topics such as teaching English as a second language, tax preparation, job searching, family literacy, and even bike repair workshops! If you see a need in your community that your library doesn’t already offer a program for, reach out and see how you can help. Libraries are always looking for regular volunteers to expand their reach into the community. You can also visit your local library’s website to see what upcoming events you can attend.

The ALA also has an ongoing initiative called Libraries Transform, an awareness campaign about the ways in which libraries transform lives. Sign up to be a part of the movement!

No matter what you do this week, take a moment to reflect on the ways in which libraries have impacted your life - and be grateful that libraries exist at all!

Sources:

http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks/natlibraryweek

http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2017/03/take-action-libraries-day-launch-during-national-library-week

https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/03/01/national-library-week-60th-anniversary-libraries-lead/

What is Kindergarten Readiness and Why Does it Matter?

By Jennifer van Pelt

In the years leading up to a child’s first formalized schooling experience, parents play an important role in laying the foundation for future schooling success. With kindergarten being required in 30% of all states and 52% of all states requiring a Kindergarten Entrance Exam, making sure children have the cognitive skills to prepare them for kindergarten is an important step in ensuring early literacy success and continued development.

A picture of some children in our Family Literacy Program! They are posing with puppets they made during the FLP session.

What is Kindergarten Readiness and Why Does it Matter?

“Kindergarten readiness” is a term that outlines what many education experts tend to agree will help a child succeed in kindergarten. With kindergarten being the first schooling experience for many children, it is important that they are comfortable, confident, and eager to learn in the classroom in order to set the tone for what the next several years of their life will revolve around: school.

Recently, Common Core Standards have been introduced into classrooms nationwide. These standards establish clear guidelines of what a student needs to know at the end of each grade. These standards have been fully implemented in 41 states and help to establish expectations for what your child should be prepared to learn in kindergarten. A few notable literacy-related Common Core Standards for kindergarten are:

• Identify major characters, setting, and basic plotline of a story.

• Recognize different types of text, including poems and storybooks.

• Recognize what an author's and illustrator’s roles are in a book and how to identify them.

• Identify the parts of a book including the front, spine, and back.

• Understand the way in which we read and write: From left to right, in strings of sentences, and spaces between words.

• Identify the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make.

By understanding what your child needs to know by the end of their year in kindergarten, you can work backwards, determine where the biggest gaps are, and ensure that your child is prepared for school.

How Can You Help Your Child Become Kindergarten Ready?

As summarized in the  “Early School Readiness” report by Child Trends, the following four skills are indicators of early literacy and cognitive development: ability to recognize letters, count to 20, write their first name, and read words in a book. While these are not an official or universally agreed upon measure for determining if a child is “kindergarten ready”, these competencies appear to be referred to most frequently in literature surrounding the topic and they are also supported by the Common Core Standards.

Children in our Family Literacy Program practice skills like counting, rhyming, and color recognition by participating in fun activities!

You can  prepare your child for kindergarten by integrating the following into your family time:

• Practice reading/writing the letters used in their name. This helps develop both the motor skills used to hold a pencil and their familiarity with the alphabet.

• Start counting with them. This can include animals in a book or carrots on their plate. Focus on incorporating numbers and counting into their daily life.

• Point out numbers that surround them. This can be page numbers, office numbers, road signs etc.

• Expand their vocabulary by using diverse language during conversations. Marianne Hillemeier, PhD, completed a study on 8,700 two year olds and the amount of vocabulary they knew. Those who used more words at age two had better math and reading skills and fewer behavioral problems when starting kindergarten.

• Teach them about books -- the front, back, spine, and how we read from left to right. This initiates a knowledge of books and prepares them to read books themselves.

At Words Alive, we understand that parents are their child’s first teacher because they have the best opportunity to prepare them with the tools needed for success in school. Our programs at Words Alive not only aim to instill reading and literacy habits in young children, but we also hope that parents leave our programs with the foundation and motivation to build these habits at home!

Learn more about our Family Literacy Program, in which we teach parents how to prepare their children for school and introduce literacy education into their homes, by checking out this page. If you are interesting in supporting these efforts, please consider donating here.

Sources:

https://www.education.com/magazine/article/kindergarten-readiness-secrets/

http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/t2k_schoolreadiness.pdf

https://www.ecs.org/kindergarten-policies/

http://www.corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/ELA_Standards1.pdf

https://www.childtrends.org/videos/big-vocabulary-equals-kindergarten-readiness/

https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/07_School_Readiness.pdf

The Intersection of Art and Literacy Education

By Jennifer van Pelt

A teacher and student holding a camera together during our Arts Component focused on photography.

Students viewing their work in a local gallery.

Students viewing their work from the 2017 Arts Component at the Chuck Jones Gallery in Downtown San Diego.

Students performing monologues as part of the Arts Component.

All of our programs aim to help students not only understand the importance of literacy but also fall in love with reading themselves. Our Words Alive Adolescent Book Group takes many different approaches to this, from hosting book club style discussion sessions to working on projects to writing workshops. Each year, we also hold an Arts Component that focuses on connecting a book, theme, and art medium into one exhibit created by the students. As an organization that focuses on increasing literacy in our community, part of our mission is to inspire a commitment to reading. Art brings that opportunity to inspire by allowing the conversation to be more accessible to those who may lack the confidence or interest in reading.

Case Study: Learning Through the Arts

A study was done on students who participated in the “Learning Through the Arts” (LTA) Program at the Guggenheim Museum. Over 200 students and teachers participated in the program and were later tested and interviewed to monitor their progress. For the study, an equal number of individuals did not participate in the program and were also tested at the end of the year, serving as the control group. A few notable outcomes came about from this program, as noted by ArtsEdSearch:

• There were increases in critical thinking and literacy skills among students who participated in the LTA Program.

• LTA students provided interview responses using language associated with higher grade levels and with more words than those who did not go through the program.

• Teaching artists felt that their participation in LTA led them to change their teaching practice by trying new things with students, especially finding strategies to reach below average students.

This study, which included over 400 students in the state of New York, echoes the studies of others that indicate that art education teaches more than just art: it helps to expand critical thinking and language development. Additionally, with classroom sizes steadily increasing, it is important to note that bringing in supplemental forms of learning, such as art education, can appeal to those who are visual or kinesthetic learners and may be overlooked if they learn in different ways compared to their classmates.

How Can You Help Bring Art Education Into The Home?

Parents don’t need to be artistic to encourage art education in the home. As noted by Art Therapist Anna Reyner, there are a few simple ways to bring the arts into your home that will help to encourage and develop the same skills that are important for reading and writing.

• Make art a family activity.

• Have a corner dedicated to art activities (This can be the same as your reading corner!).

• Create homemade art journals.

• Relate drawings/art projects to books you’ve recently read.

These tips, though more so applicable to young children, develop habits and interests that can prove helpful throughout the child’s future schooling experience.

The Words Alive Annual Arts Component

Looking at the last tip in the list above (“relate drawings/art projects to books you’ve recently read”), this is exactly what we aim to do in our annual Arts Component. As mentioned previously, each year we have our students focus on a different book, theme, and art medium. This year, our students are going to be creating murals based on the novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and using the theme “duality” as inspiration. Through this process, students learn how to connect the text to themselves and the world through art and, in the end, have the chance to see their art professionally displayed in a local gallery.

In many American schools, standardized testing is emphasized to the extent that art education can fall to the side as an extracurricular activity. By understanding the benefits art has on the reading, writing, and overall literacy skills of an individual, we can bring that same awareness back in to the classroom and home. Partnering art and literacy education serves as a multi-faceted teaching tool that can create a bigger, more meaningful impact.

For more information on our upcoming Arts Component, or any of our other programs, visit the main section of our website.

Sources:

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED466413.pdf

http://nasaa-arts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/critical-evidence.pdf

http://www.artsedsearch.org/summaries/teaching-literacy-through-art

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=509

The Importance of Family Literacy

By Jennifer van Pelt

What is Family Literacy?

Family Literacy is a type of literacy education that emphasizes bringing reading and writing into the home and making it a family activity. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, children with a “richer home literacy environment displayed higher levels of reading knowledge and skills than did their counterparts with less rich home literacy environments.” Family literacy is imperative in creating a foundation for children’s learning experiences, and it all starts with the parents.

Illiteracy in today’s children can be traced back to their parent's literacy experiences in their early lives. When parents do not feel comfortable around books, they don’t read to their children and they likely don’t have many books in the house for their children to look at or read themselves. This is why family literacy programs emphasize teaching families together and ensuring that the parents understand the importance of reading outside of a school environment. It’s not just about reading though -- in the same study by the NCES, singing songs and telling stories to children can also lead to early reading success.

What is Family Literacy?

Family Literacy is a type of literacy education that emphasizes bringing reading and writing into the home and making it a family activity. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, children with a “richer home literacy environment displayed higher levels of reading knowledge and skills than did their counterparts with less rich home literacy environments.” Family literacy is imperative in creating a foundation for children’s learning experiences, and it all starts with the parents.

Illiteracy in today’s children can be traced back to their parent's literacy experiences in their early lives. When parents do not feel comfortable around books, they don’t read to their children and they likely don’t have many books in the house for their children to look at or read themselves. This is why family literacy programs emphasize teaching families together and ensuring that the parents understand the importance of reading outside of a school environment. It’s not just about reading though -- in the same study by the NCES, singing songs and telling stories to children can also lead to early reading success.

A picture of a parent and child working together on an exercise in our Family Literacy Program. The child is sitting on top of the table while working, showing how we emphasize play and comfort in literacy education!

Parents: A Child’s First Teacher

As mentioned by the Urban Child Institute, a child’s brain develops at a rapid rate during their early life. By age 3, the brain has reached 80% of its adult size. Developmental experiences in these years determine the organizational and functional status of the mature brain. This is an important time in a child’s life to talk to them, look at pictures, and read books with them so they get as much exposure as they can before they begin formalized school. Parents teach their child how to navigate the world, and when parents take time to do these things, they are teaching them healthy reading habits for life.

In the earliest stages of a child’s life, the parents don’t need high literacy to teach their kids a love of books. Just asking the child to use their imagination and create a storyline for the book themselves, teaching them various sounds, and asking them questions can help develop important habits surrounding literacy. When the families make this a routine and enjoy these activities together, the building blocks of early reading success are being set up.

Another example of teaching with play! Two students learn terms like "through" by crawling through a tunnel at one of our Family Literacy sites.

Healthy Reading Habits At Home

Now that we understand the importance of family literacy, here are some ideas to help build reading and literacy components into your family’s daily life. These are based off some of the key indicators of our own Family Literacy Program:

1. Let your child see you reading.

2. Read more than books together -- read road signs, nutritional labels, etc.

3. Let your child pick out the books you read together.

4. Visit the library together.

5. Ask your child questions about the books or pictures.

6. Relate the book to your child’s life.

7. Sing songs and rhymes together with your child.

The Family Literacy program that Words Alive runs has demonstrated an 87% increase in the percentage of families who look at books together at home by the end of the 7 week program. This incorporation of books into the home is important when looking at future reading and literacy success. If you are curious to learn more about our Family Literacy Program and what it has to offer, the program is running right now! Head to our main website to find out more about volunteering with us or joining our Family Literacy workshops.

Sources:

http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/articles/research-to-policy/practice/parents-are-a-childs-first-teacher

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003067_6.pdf

What is the Connection Between Literacy and Economic Development?

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By Jennifer Van Pelt

“Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility. If our world is to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century we must harness the energy and creativity of all our citizens.” (Bill Clinton, 1994)

Nearly 25 years ago, the President of the United States recognized the importance of literacy and the opportunity literacy provides not only individuals, but whole communities. In 2017, according to The Nation’s Report Card, only 36% of 4th graders in the United States were at a proficient reading level or above. These children are not the start of the cycle of illiteracy, but a continuation of the environment they were brought up in that didn’t prioritize reading -- often times because their parents were illiterate. This means these children weren’t read aloud to at home, they likely didn’t have any books in their house, and homework was a lone task. Studies have shown that 1 in 7 adults in America are considered functionally illiterate, which has the potential to trickle down to our youth.

What Does Illiteracy Really Mean?

Source: Words Alive; A graphic that says: "Literacy is the foundation of community and economic development. When everyone can read, whole communities thrive."

Being able to read is more than being able to escape into a book and be transported to a different decade or world. Illiteracy means that one can lack the skills necessary to read the dosage/warnings on medicine bottles, follow cooking instructions, properly manage finances, or apply for jobs that allow one to live above the poverty line. The cost of Illiteracy in the United States is estimated to be over 300 billion dollars, according to a report written by the World Literacy Foundation. In the same report, it is said to cost the global economy 1.2 trillion dollars.

How Do Other People’s Reading Abilities Affect the Economic Development of Your Community?

Perhaps one of the clearest ways to explain how literacy affects the economics of whole communities is illustrated by the correlation between literacy rates and prisons: 3 out of 5 inmates in United States prisons cannot read. Not only does this have an impact on the communities and families of these individuals, but taxpayers are paying for these prisons and all of the maintenance and costs they come with.

Health has also been shown to be affected by literacy rates. There have been multiple studies showing a correlation between communities with high literacy rates and lower infant mortality rates. The idea being that literate adults have increased ability and knowledge to seek out medical treatment for themselves and their families, as well as a difference in their reproductive behavior -- including increased contraceptive use. This results in more proactive visits to the doctor, generally at a lower cost, as opposed to high cost emergency visits.

For those with low literacy, it is often a struggle to obtain jobs that pay above a living wage. Furthermore, once they are in these jobs, it is difficult to be promoted or get a pay raise, vastly limiting their job mobility. This means that these employees will have more difficulties supporting their families and are more likely to depend on supplemental means of doing so such as welfare or food stamps.

According to a study conducted by Betty Hart and Todd Risley, there is a 30 million word gap between children in low-income families and children from higher income families. The report outlines their findings that an average child in a higher income family will experience nearly 45 millions words by the time they are 4 years old, compared to the 13 million words that an average child who lives in a low-income family will hear. Not only does this demonstrate the economic impact that illiteracy has on families, but also the continuous cycle of low literacy it creates.

The Connection Between Literacy and Politics

How can one be expected the equal opportunity to make a decision in upcoming elections when they aren’t provided with this information in a format that benefits them? In other words, how can you vote and advocate for yourself if you are unable to read voting information and instructions? Thirty-second commercials provide limited information, while the multitude of pamphlets and voting materials give the option to make a more educated choice. When the people of our communities are given the opportunity to obtain this info through multiple venues, they are more able to advocate for themselves and participate in causes they believe in.

When Everyone Can Read, Whole Communities Thrive

Communities built on a foundation of literacy will allow the creativity and energy of more voices to be heard and change our communities for the better through civic engagement, lessened costs (such as to our prison and healthcare systems), and a healthier society. The first step to beating illiteracy is right at your fingertips: get involved with local outreach groups, volunteer for literacy organizations (like Words Alive!),  and donate books to schools, libraries, and other organizations that need them -- because illiteracy is 100% preventable.

You can help Words Alive connect students and families to the power of reading, so our communities can thrive, by making a  $25 donation today. Click here!

Sources:

http://www.unesco.org/education/GMR2006/full/chapt5_eng.pdf

https://worldliteracyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/WLF-FINAL-ECONOMIC-REPORT.pdf

https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/ToRead.pdf

http://media.wix.com/ugd/43406c_4ff5b27838a75af1e0ccd1cf55632342.pdf

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ 

https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf