Summer Reading Spots!
The aim of the Summer Reading Spots is to provide literacy-building reading experiences for young children and to encourage parents to actively participate in reading with their kids – all part of United Way’s 10-year goal to increase the numbers of children entering kindergarten in Lane County with age-appropriate literacy and social skills.
A typical middle-class 5-year-old is able to identify 22 letters and sounds of the alphabet while a typical 5-year-old from a low-income family recognizes only 9 letters. Low-income children are at a disadvantage before school even begins.
Current data indicates that 56% of Lane County children entering kindergarten do not meet the early literacy benchmark, putting them at risk for being unable to read by third grade. In the two Promise Neighborhoods identified, we know that 82% of children entering kindergarten in these neighborhoods do not meet the early literacy benchmark.
Every child who attends the Summer Reading Spot receives a book to take home. Last year, over 1,200 books were put into the hands of children in the Promise Neighborhoods. Watch for our next Summer Reading Spots in June 2013.
