Local students receive books through state program

Representatives from the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation (GELF) were at Alexander Elementary School on Friday doing their part to help childhood literacy in that school.

“We’re going across the state to 39 CIS schools and a total of 15,000 students delivering books to them to encourage reading outside of school,” said Abigail Sanderson, the director of development for GELF. “This is the second year we’ve done this, and some of the schools we’re coming to for a second time, we’re hearing some great things from the students.”

A row of book racks were lined up in the gym at Alexander with a variety of books available for them to look at and take home with them.

This is part of GELF’s Opportunities with Literacy program that helps provide more books in the home with hopes of improving literacy rates among students as they reach and go through third grade.

“Research has shown that the more books you have in the home, the more likely you are to become a better reader,” Sanderson said. “That’s not even if you have read all the books, but just that exposure to different content, if you do pick up the books and read them, you’re going to become a better reader from practice.

“But you’ll have a larger vocabulary, and you’ll be more empathetic because reading a book, you’re usually putting yourself in the place of the characters you’re reading about and seeing things from their perspective.”

Along with Alexander, GELF’s representatives also made stops at Isaac Lane, Jackson Careers and Technology and Lincoln Elementary as those are grouped as CIS schools also, which are in the bottom 5 percent of schools in terms of literacy rates.

Students were able to pick out six books, and they were theirs to keep.

“That’s something a lot of the students at all the schools we’ve visited across the state have had some difficulty understanding,” Sanderson said. “These books are free, and they can take them home to read.

“Some kids came in and said they couldn’t take any because they had no money. Others asked when they were supposed to be brought back. But these are their books.”

Kenton Evans is in his first year as principal at Alexander. About halfway through the day, he said he saw a good bit of excitement from the students who’d received their books.

“A lot of our students seem to really be getting into reading because we started the Leap Up for Literacy program last spring where we were challenged to read 20 minutes per day,” Evans said. “And I think that partnered with this will go a long way toward helping our children learn how to read on the appropriate levels.”

The GELF program allows the opportunity for a child to have 24 books by the end of their third grade year, and 24 more are available through the summer reading program. That plus the 60 books children get through the Imagination Library – one per month for the first five years of their life if they’re signed up before birth – gives children the potential to have 108 books they can call their own at the end of third grade.

“Just think if the children who have that in their homes actually pick those books up and read them,” Sanderson said. “That can open up so many educational opportunities for the children, and that’s why we’re here today.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news