This post is by Judy Lee and Celia Roskin of the Library of Congress.
The Library’s Literacy Awards Program recognized DIBS for Kids, Kids Read Now, ReadWorks, and ServeMinnesota Reading Corps in 2022 for their successful practices in promoting a culture of reading. Representatives from each organization are featured guests in the next episode of the 2022-2023 Literacy Awards 5-part webinar series on March 16, 2023, from 3:00-4:30 PM EST. Register here!
What have you found to be the secret to inspire a love of reading among your students?
DIBS for Kids: Our secret is grounded in years of research: classroom access to a multitude of diverse, representative, high-interest books for early to fluent readers. Students have autonomy to select a book for nightly independent reading and can discover characters, interests, places, and ideas within the books each night.
Kids Read Now: Choice, engagement, support: Kids choose the books they will love to read and receive at home every week by mail. Parents get text nudges and use discussion activities we print inside each book to extend comprehension; talking about books with their child inspiring a love of reading.
ReadWorks: ReadWorks provides thousands of passages on diverse, high-interest topics to tap into students’ interests. ReadWorks gives students opportunities to see themselves in texts and learn about others. In their independent reading space, students explore passages freely to build the joy of reading, exploring science, art, history, poetry, and more.
ServeMinnesota: Access! When students access instruction that solidifies the building blocks of literacy, they experience the joy and power of reading. Helping students see their growth, reinforce their confidence, and access a caring adult who shows up every day, they start to believe in themselves and the power of reading.
Why is your literacy program important to the communities you serve?
DIBS for Kids: DIBS leverages the best of what classroom, libraries, and book giveaways offer – access to books – without the barriers of time, transport, finances, limited quantities, and potentially limited diversity, interests, and types of literature. DIBS serves communities in book deserts where access to thousands of books would otherwise not be available.
Kids Read Now: We irrigate book deserts. Most of our families are low-income; places where few if any books are in their homes. Our participants can receive 50 books or more, making those book deserts bloom with books. More than books, we guide families how to discuss and dig deeper into books.
ReadWorks: ReadWorks provides research-based content, curricular supports, ELL supports, and more that easily integrate with core curricula—all for FREE. Reaching over 13 million educators and students annually, we provide a flexible solution to support students’ reading comprehension to be adopted at the classroom, school, or district level.
ServeMinnesota: Schools are communities, and Reading Corps offers community members the opportunity to make a life-changing impact on the literacy skills of children. With training and coaching, Reading Corps tutors can be confident their service is having a significant and positive effect and often propels them to pursue a teaching career.
A representative from Reading is Fundamental, a 2013 Successful Practices Honoree and the 2018 David M. Rubenstein Prize recipient, will moderate this discussion.
The 2023 Literacy Awards application opened on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, and closed on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. The 2023 Literacy Awards winners will be announced on September 8, 2023.
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