Child Care Literacy Project

The Soho Center received its eighth round of funds from 7-Eleven's PEOPLE WHO READ ACHIEVE program.  We appreciate 7-Eleven's support for our children's literacy efforts.   This makes a total of 66 grants over the past eight years! 
 
 

IT ALL STARTS WITH BEING ABLE TO READ -

The Soho Center believes that the foundation for life-long learning, literacy, and on-going school success begins at a very early age - well before school starts. One way to improve the quality of child care and prepare children for school is to ensure an enjoyable, early, and repeated exposure to good children's books and related, age-appropriate activities. 

The importance of reading is a major part of our REACH Initiative and this belief is at the core of our NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY INFORMATION project  (Click  for Details)

Since the majority of children in child care spend the bulk of their waking hours in family day care, this is the logical place to introduce them to books and reading-related activities. That truth is at the core of our Child Care Literacy Project - presently being piloted in many counties in Virginia.   (P.S. for some great Children's Literacy Tips on our Preview NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY WEBSITE, click here.) 

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF  QUALITY KIDS' BOOKS

     Some of the thousands of books we send out each yearS A M P L E S of F R E E G I V E - A W A Y B O O K S
The Soho Center's Child Care Literacy Project has distributed tens of thousands of dollars worth of quality children's books to home-based family child care providers - the folks who care for the largest percentage of America's children in child care.

Our Child Care Literacy Project uses good children's books to lay the foundation for a love of reading, help children develop listening and expanded language skills, foster creative expression, and build a basic knowledge of the world.

Our Child Care Literacy Project recognizes that family day care providers are the natural, daily liaison to parents and can help influence their parenting behavior.

Our Child Care Literacy Project takes into account the varying educational levels and degrees of literacy of participating family day care providers.

Our Child Care Literacy Project eases the financial burden faced by providers willing to improve their program but unable to afford quality materials. Equally important, it benefits children by providing a quality alternative to television and highly commercial "junk toys." And it simultaneously helps educate and involve children, parents, and providers.

Our Child Care Literacy Project is designed to -

  • Generate enthusiasm among children toward books and reading through the permanent placement of collections of high-quality, age-appropriate, culturally-sensitive children's books in family day care providers' homes.

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  • Educate family day care providers about the important role they can play in young children's emerging literacy. The Soho Center publishes a newsletter for thousands of providers which promotes literacy, and we distribute reading-related brochures with training tips on how to use children's books imaginatively and effectively.

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  • Motivate family day care providers to meet state regulatory requirements, participate in the USDA Child Care Food Program, and improve the quality of child care they offer. (We give priority with book distribution to providers who complete regulatory requirements and join the USDA Food Program.)

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  • Motivate parents to follow through with their children with story-telling, library trips, etc. We distribute reading-related brochures and tips through family day care providers.
Our programs are free for participating family day care providers so cost is never a deterrent. We take a broad state-wide approach that is very cost-effective - avoiding program duplication and unnecessary overhead. All our programs share a prevention/early intervention family-based model that remains the long-term, lowest-cost solution to many child-related problems. Literacy can and should be part of this effort. (Waiting until a child enters kindergarten to introduce children's books and literature, reading-related activities, etc. is simply too late.)

By focussing on family day care providers, we are working directly and successfully with the key adults who significantly affect the largest numbers of young children. And we reach them where they and most of the children in child care really are - in family day care homes in every community.

Our Child Care Literacy Project includes the following elements -

  • Book Nooks of quality children's books given free to participating family day care providers. Children have daily access to these books and can participate in story times and age-appropriate reading-related activities as an alternative to television or video games.

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  • "How and Why to Read to Children" Newsletter inserts sent to thousands of family day care providers to help them select and use quality children's books to foster a love of reading and good children's literature. These include ideas for reading-related enrichment activities for children of all ages.

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  • Parent Education brochures to encourage family follow-through of reading-related activities. The primary conduit is through family day care providers who, after all, see parents every day.

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  • And effective outreach and publicity to ensure maximum participation.
We welcome discussions with other organizations about ways to coordinate literacy efforts and with other corporations and individuals interested in supporting the expansion of our literacy-related efforts to reach even more children - in Virginia and nationally.

If you are interested in discussing such a collaboration or supporting our children's literacy efforts, please call the Soho Center's Director at at 540-923-5012 or e-mail us at soho@child2000.org


 
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