Just recently Operation Shoestring became a partner in Family Reading Bonds, a program developed by the Mississippi Humanities Council. Family Reading Bonds is a six-week program of reading, discussion and storytelling. A discussion leader and storyteller conduct weekly sessions for families with low-literacy skills. With award-winning children’s books, the program introduces fairy tales and folk tales from around the world, stories about problems children encounter and tales from history told for children.
Family Reading Bonds was designed to:
– reinforce the role of the family as a major social unit
- train parents and children to bond around the act of reading
- teach children the joy of reading
- encourage low-literacy, low-income parents to enter or continue their own educational programs, whether that is the GED or other training
Ten families participated in our first session this week! The feedback was very positive. ”Our parents and students are already seeing an impact in their child or children’s enthusiasm for reading,” said Kim Luckett, Operation Shoestring’s program coordinator. One parent stopped me today to say that since receiving
the weekly set of books and coming to meetings, her child reads instead of turning on the television in the afternoons.
The child responded that she has even read one of the books given just last night, and it was a chapter book! I am excited about the impact this program is having on both our students and their parents.”
Thanks to the support of people like you, Operation Shoestring is able to provide programs such as Family Reading Bonds to our neighborhood’s families. Through our collected efforts, we can ensure that all
of Jackson will rise!