Why should we read to young children?

When developing oral language skills (pronunciation, grammar, etc.), there is a critical window for development, which starts closing at age 5.*

Providing books to children before the age of five allows them to hear a variety of new words and speech patterns, helping to promote their vocabulary, activate their listening skills, and create a love of reading and learning that will continue on as they grow.

*Information provided by the Raising a Reader program**Image obtained from Raising a reader and used there with permission from Chugani HT, Behen ME, Muzik O, Nagy F, Juhasz C, Chugani DC: Local brain functional activity following early social deprivation: A study of post-institutionalized Romanian orphans. NeuroImage 14:1290-1301, 2001.

Healthy Brain**

Deprived Brain**

What is Raising a Reader?Raising a Reader is a take-home book

bag program that is intended to encourage “book cuddling” among parents and children.

Raising a Reader is currently being implemented at Dare County Head Start.

Raising A Reader at Head Start In the beginning, a parent meeting

was held with parents to introduce them to RAR and to talk about the importance of reading to children.

In the first few weeks of the book bag rotation, parents receive a Read Aloud DVD to watch, talking about the importance of early literacy and the ways that parents can read to their children.

Check-out of the book bags is on Thursdays and check-in is on Tuesdays.

On check-out days, I do a read aloud with the children using a book from the bags to help build excitement for the bags going home that day. Then each child receives a new bag to take home.

The Books in the Red Bags

Getting Parents InvolvedFour parent workshops are

given each year for the Raising a Reader program that focus on read aloud techniques, the importance of early reading, and activities that parents can do at home with their children to promote literacy.

One of those workshops is a library celebration at the end of the year, where each child receives a certificate and a library card. For the children going to Kindergarten, they receive a blue book bag that is intended for carrying books home for the library.

Father’s Literacy Night

February 16, 2010 at the Dare County Center

Raising a Reader Library Celebration

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April, 2009

Manteo Public Library

A Parent’s Perspective

Amelia T. Cruz, Family Services Worker for Dare County Head Start and Dare County Head Start

Parent