The purpose of this project is to get children's reading books into the hands of children, especially those who are at risk of failure and have behavior problems. The project, Books at Home, is performed on a continual basis during the school year.
This project is carried out by the Home & School Coordinator as she visits the home of school children of Hardin County and shares helpful information with the parents. She will take the books to the children as gifts. Even if a child can't read, they can pretend to read the pictures and retell the story in their own words
The Coordinator works with the parent on techniques and strategies to use while reading the books to their child. The importance that books play in a child's ability to read will be emphasized to the parents. Parents are encouraged to select a time and place that the child will enjoy and remove all distractions. They should pretend to be a character, raise and lower their voice, use facial expressions and hand movements. The child seeing a parent reading is a good role model. Reading tends to build fond childhood memories.
Requests for mildly used books have been made to libraries, teachers, and schools. We are looking for books that a child would enjoy reading. Ones that have memorable characters, have artwork with pleasant colors, use warmth and humor, use songs, jingles, and nursery rhymes, have pictures that help the child remember the story, and repeated words and phrases.
Many homes have financial situations that don't allow funds for printed material such as books, magazines, and newspapers. Books expose children to print and increase their vocabulary. The advantage of parents reading to their children and children reading to their parents can not be over emphasized.
Many children are at risk of academic failure because of reading disabilities. Some behavior problems result from the frustration of not being able to read and comprehend the material.
Studies have shown that children who are read to are better readers. Being read to stimulates the brain at an early age. As children are read to, they begin to realize that the print has sounds, these sounds make words, and these words have meaning. Children who can't hear the sounds have trouble sounding out words. As they begin to relate words to meaning, they build their ability to comprehend what is read. While they are imagining the story in their minds and understanding what the words mean, they are analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and inferring without knowing it. This puts them at an enormous advantage when they start school and lays the foundation for later reading success. An added benefit of reading to a child is that the child feels loved, is getting necessary attention, and is gaining a love for books. Our project, taking books into homes and helping parents to help their children, has enormous capacity to make a difference in the academic success of children.
