Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Rotary Club members are asking for help to improve literacy among young Sweet Home area children.
This fall, Gov. John Kitzhaber launched a statewide literacy program called “Story Time – Every Day Everywhere,” said School District 55 Supt. Don Schrader. The program was developed by the Oregon Education Investment Board to help build awareness of the importance of early literacy among youths.
“Research shows that students who are not proficient readers by the end of third grade are four more times likely to drop out of school,” Schrader said. “Every child deserves the chance to succeed in school, and one of the most important indicators of school success is a child’s ability to read at grade level by the third grade.
“If students aren’t proficient by third grade, their success rate goes down. It doesn’t mean they can’t be successful, but it becomes more difficult.”
By the third grade, they’re reading for information and comprehension, Schrader said. If they aren’t fluent, it will cause them trouble advancing.
If they struggle with the words and cannot read well, they’ll process information slower than everyone else, he said.
The third-grade reading level is 100 words per minute, Schrader said. That increases to 150 words per minute by the fifth grade.
While it doesn’t reflect fluency precisely, 59 percent of third-graders last year met or exceeded the state standard in reading. Statewide, that number was 66 percent. In the fourth grade, 78 percent met or exceeded the standard, while statewide 72 percent met or exceeded. The district was above the state average in fifth and seventh grades and in high school and at the state average in the sixth and eighth grades.
“Building early literacy isn’t as hard as we think. It comes from things we can do every day, everywhere, like reading, talking, telling stories, singing and playing with children,” Schrader said quoting an article from the Story Time website. “And it can be done in any language.”
A great way to make sure children are reading is to make sure all children have books at home, he said. To help make that happen in Sweet Home, the School District and Rotary Club are joining forces to raise funds locally for the Story Time program.
The Scholastic Book Company has agreed to sell many of its children’s books for $2.50 each, Schrader said. The books may be sent to the school of the donor’s choice.
To contribute to the program, visit the School District’s website, sweethome.k12.or.us, and follow the Story Time link on the right side of the page.
As an added incentive, Umpqua Bank is matching the first $100,000 donated to the program, which means more than 40,000 books will be sent to elementary schools all over the state, Schrader said.
Locally, books will be distributed to schools in early 2015, Schrader said. School officials still have to determine how books will be distributed in schools. The goal is to get books into homes.
At Holley School, Principal Larry Horton is planning to bring all of the books to the school and let the students choose a book to take home. The Parent Teacher Committee is chipping in $100 to buy books for the school.
Rotarians also are asked to bring a book to a school, Schrader said. He is hoping that Sweet Home will raise enough for every child to take home a book.
For more information, call Schrader at (541) 367-7126.