For the month of February, we are donating to "Resources for Readers." This is a cause nominated by our Practice Manager, Anne Putnam. Here is the back story, from Anne:
"Mike Myers is a friend of ours. He is the Director of Music at our church. Mike is also an employee of State Farm Insurance Co. A few years ago, he returned to school pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education. Last year he did an internship at William Perry Elementary School, where he discovered:
Reading achievement of low income students typically declines during summer vacation
Middle income families have access to, on average, as much as 75 times as many books as students from lower income households
The gap in reading achievement attributable to summer reading loss grows to reach anywhere from 1.5 to 3 years by the time the student has completed grade 6
Armed with this information, Mike created the “Raising Resources for Readers” program to address these needs.
Last spring the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students at William Perry School were given the opportunity to go to the Green Valley Book Fair and pick out books that were of interest to them. At the end of the school year, they took the books home with them and guess what? They read those books! Reading just six books over the summer helped avoid summer reading loss. The “Raising Resources for Readers” goal this year is to expand the literacy project to benefit all students at William Perry School."