PROMOTING THE LOVE
OF BOOKS...
According to the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading,
reading prociency by third grade is the most important
predictor of high school graduation and career success.
Yet, every year, more than 80 percent of low-income children
miss this crucial milestone.
Books For Kids is a project of the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch,
supporting the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.
Their mission is to raise the reading levels of local elementary
school students by helping with reading comprehension - and
by providing “Books For Kids.”
Books For Kids which partners with the Early Learning Coalition
of Manatee County - currently has more than 100 volunteers
helping to distribute books and reading to students in area Title 1
classrooms. Their volunteers are professionally trained to read to
students in kindergarten through third grade and engage children
in book discussions which help to develop critical thinking and
reading comprehension skills. Each student in the classroom is
then given a book to take home.
This year, volunteers from Books For Kids plan to visit about 100
classrooms in Manatee and Sarasota County schools and distribute
more than 1,000 books. This will bring the total number of books
distributed in the program’s six-year history to nearly 50,000.
The program’s Director, Ted Lindenberg, who has a 0-year history
in education, began the program out of his garage with a team
of ve volunteers in 2013. Asked why this program is important
to him and to the community Mr. Lindenberg said: “There are
37 million American adults who are functionally illiterate, and one
million students drop out of school every year. To bring that down
locally, 50 percent of boys and girls by the end of the third grade
in Manatee County schools are reading below grade-level.”
Mr. Lindenberg continued: “The ratio of books to children in low
income neighborhoods is one book for every 300 children. We ask
these kids to read and to read effectively yet they don’t have
books at home to be able to read. So, what are we doing? We’re
trying to help in every way possible. We’re helping with reading
comprehension skills, listening comprehension skills, critical
thinking, character development, and we even bring in career
education. And then after reading and discussion takes place,
we’re giving these kids something that we take for granted that is
in our home, but not necessarily in their homes and that’s a book.”
Mr. Lindenberg expressed that the ultimate goal of Books For Kids
is to reach every Title 1 school in Manatee County, and to improve
the quality of life for boys and girls in underserved communities
by increasing the number of books in home libraries. He added:
“If we can transfer the love of reading and the love of books that
the volunteers have to the kids, that’s also something special.”
How can you help? To reach their goal of branching out to all Title
1 schools, the organization needs two things from the community
volunteers and funds. Books For Kids accepts monetary donations
and the program is always looking for volunteers to help with
classroom reading and book distribution. For more information
visit http://booksforkids.org.
WORDS: Jessica Schubick