Reading to Kids
Encyclopedia
Reading to Kids is a charitable organization
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
that sponsors monthly reading clubs at inner-city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
elementary schools
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
with low literacy rates
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
in Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. The organization provides books and volunteers who read to the children; after each reading club the books are donated to the schools' libraries, and the children receive a reading-related prize for attending. Reading to Kids also provides training for the parents of the participating children, offering guidance on how to encourage their children to read more at home.
History
The first reading clubs were offered in May 1999 at Gratts Elementary, a primary school located in Los Angeles's WestlakeWestlake, Los Angeles, California
Westlake is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. It should not be confused with Westlake Village, an independent municipality in Los Angeles County near Thousand Oaks and close to the Ventura County line....
neighborhood. At the first reading club, initially known as the "Gratts Reading Club", eight volunteers read to twenty children. The club's popularity grew, and later in the same year its organizers formally created Reading to Kids.
According to the organization's website, current volunteer attendance is approximately 420 per month, and student participation has reached an average of 1,140 children at eight local schools.
Reading Clubs
Reading to Kids hosts monthly reading clubs at 8 Los Angeles area elementary schools. Pairs of volunteers read aloud to small groups of elementary school children, who range in grade level from kindergarten to fifth grade. The children are grouped according to grade level, and grade-level-appropriate books are selected each month by school faculty.Reading to Kids' stated goal is, in part, to "help these children associate reading with pleasure and to promote the value of education and literacy." To that end, 30 to 45 minutes of each session are reserved for a craft project, during which the students and volunteers create art related to the day's book. Often the clubs are themed; these themes extend from the choice of books for the different grade levels to the craft projects undertaken by the children.
First-time volunteers typically participate in brief training sessions, during which program organizers review the clubs' rules and guidelines, and communicate other information about the roles of the volunteers and the activities planned for the day.
At the end of each session, volunteers provide each child with a book to take home.
Book Donations
Reading to Kids also strives to develop the library resources of participating schools through book donations. The books purchased or donated for use at the reading clubs are later donated to school libraries.Additionally, at the conclusion of each reading club the children are given free books. Reading to Kids notes that "60% percent of low-income homes do not have age-appropriate reading materials for children.".