Sit, Stay, and READ!
Here in the Belmont Hills Media Center, we’re very excited to announce a new program that Zoe (the Media Center pet) will be “leading” with our students this year. You may have heard of the “Sit, Stay, and Read” program featured recently on NBC (read about it below or go to http://www.sitstayread.org/About.aspx). This year, we will start a modified version of this program in the Belmont Hills Media Center.
Basically, I’m asking teachers in grades two through four to identify 2-3 students from their class who could use some extra reading practice. You can fill out the nomination form — available in the Media Center folder on the T drive or from Mrs. Launey directly — with each student’s name, his or her guided reading level, and some time frames during which the student could be pulled for 20-30 minutes to come to the Media Center to read to Zoe. I will be with the student and Zoe at all times, and we will work on guided reading strategies during our time together.
The number of times each student will get to “Sit, Stay, and Read” with Zoe will depend on the number of students you volunteer for this program. We’re hoping you will be as excited as we are to Sit, Stay, and Read, and that you’ll sign your students up for this program!
More information about the *official* Sit, Stay, and Read program
Reading aloud is a critical component of early childhood literacy. Children who have difficulty reading have an especially hard time reading aloud in front of peers and adults. This affects their self-esteem as they struggle with a skill their classmates’ easily master. SIT STAY READ! allows children to read aloud to specially trained and evaluated therapy dogs.
Programs like SIT STAY READ! are showing that children are more likely to interact with an animal than another person.
We’re On a Mission
Our mission is to improve literacy skills and foster a love of animals by partnering reading assistance dogs with children in our community.During their interaction with the SIT STAY READ! dogs, the children forget their limitations. In addition, even children who are already skilled at reading enjoy reading aloud to the dogs. Dogs provide rapt attention and children can read aloud without fear of criticism or interruption.
Children In Low-Income Families Especially at Risk
A report funded by the Packard and MacArthur Foundations found that the average child growing up in a middle class family has been exposed to 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading before entering school. The average child growing up in a low-income family has only been exposed to 25 hours of one-on-one reading aloud during this same time period.For this reason, we are especially committed to reaching children in low-income families.
Learning while having fun is what makes SIT STAY READ! successful.
(From http://www.sitstayread.org/About.aspx)
