Beginning Sat. March 9 at 9.30 a.m., Joy Junction is expanding its Let’s Read! Program to include the services of a trained tutor who will work with children and their parents for two hours each week at the shelter.
Incorporating music, art, dance, movement, and play, the tutor will encourage children to read and will demonstrate reading engagement techniques to parents. More than just a story time, the Saturday morning sessions will be a time for families to have fun with books.
The Let’s Read! Program was launched at Joy Junction in Oct. 2012 with the help of two small grants which have provided funding for the purchase of more than 400 children’s books, a library cart, 20 children’s chairs, and a trained reading tutor.
In addition to the weekly tutoring sessions, the children’s library for the Let’s Read! Program is made available to the shelter children after school throughout the week. The library for the Let’s Read! Program includes board books, picture books, beginning readers, chapter books, and other books appropriate for pre-school and elementary-aged children. Volunteers and parents read to and with the children.
The Let’s Read! Program encourages the children to engage with books and also provides opportunities for meaningful interaction between parents and their children.
Studies show that this type of early experience with literacy is important to a child’s success in school. Reading to children and giving them access to books greatly improves the likelihood that they will develop strong reading skills, widely believed to be the single-most important factor in insuring student success in school.
The Let’s Read! Program is one more tool that Joy Junction can use to fulfill the mission to help break the cycle of homelessness, one life at a time.
For more information about Joy Junction, call 505 217-9586 or visit the website www.joyjunction.org
