Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology has been selected to receive a 2017 Youth Literacy grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to build a literacy learning bridge between home and school.
The highly competitive $2,500 grant will fund the implementation of the Love of Learning Project, which will engage English Learning (EL) students in grades three through five and their parents and guardians in simultaneous and shared learning opportunities to boost literacy.
The program, designed by the ACPS Family and Community Engagement Center (FACE) and facilitated by FACE in partnership with Cora Kelly educators, targets EL students who are performing below grade level. It aims to increase the amount of time that students spend reading at home, the level of engagement of families in the learning process and the student’s overall reading proficiency.
We are really excited about the opportunities that this program offers to build strong connections between home and school, particularly in the area of literacy. We are confident that the Love of Literacy Project will have a tremendously positive impact on our students and families at school and at home,” said Cora Kelly Principal Jasibi Crews-West.
The program will include a four-week after-school session during which reading instructional coaches will work with students on phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Parents and guardians will simultaneously participate in training delivered in Spanish to gain a general understanding of the instructional components and simple strategies they can use to support their child at home.
Each session will culminate with the parent and child sharing what they have learned through a guided hands-on activity using multicultural, bilingual books and instructional materials provided to families. Parents and guardians will also be introduced to reading and writing instructional software used in the school that their child can access at home. At the end of each session, parents and children will explore online activities that can be used to gain additional support for each component covered during the program.
Students along with parents and guardians will participate in four additional weeks of literacy training with reading instructional coaches that are focused on their children’s demonstrated areas of need in preparation for the state’s standardized reading assessment.
Parents and guardians will be asked to commit to the ongoing use of the strategies they learn and to log their child’s at home reading each week. Multicultural, bilingual books will be provided to students throughout the year as an incentive for turning in reading logs, to build home libraries and to encourage both the child and parent/guardian to continue to engage in reading at home.
The grant funding will enable the purchase of instructional materials for each participating student to support their reading proficiency and learning at home, including a parent guide, graphic organizers, journals and multicultural/bilingual grade-level books.
The Love of Literacy Project will be implemented in March 2018.