Literacy in Our Communities

Literacy is a critical community issue both here and abroad. In fact, back in 1985 Rotary declared basic literacy to be a pre-condition to the development of peace. Today the majority of Rotary clubs worldwide support this organizational emphasis through a wide variety of literacy projects. Rotary clubs in District 5320 have a long tradition of supporting literacy through club projects, school partnerships and book drives. Here are just a few of the many great literacy projects to choose from:

Collect children’s books for the District 5320 Literacy Month Book Drive in March. Books will be distributed by the Early Literacy Program directly to children so that they can start building their own personal home libraries. Learn more about how to support ELP at http://earlyliteracyprogramoc.org.

Participate in the Rotary Book Certificate project! Clubs will be able to continue the tradition of purchasing discounted books for the classroom libraries at their local elementary schools. Rotary Book Certificates function as gift certificates and enable recipient local schools to purchase children’s books directly from Scholastic Book Publishers. This project updates the previous Reading by 9 program with streamlined procedures and quicker turn-around times. For forms and instructions, see “Documents” at the bottom of this page.

Include the book “Two Little Drops” in your club’s next PolioPlus vaccination project. Written by local Rotarian Diane Reed, the English/Spanish storybook explains to children the importance of the two little drops and that working together… nothing is impossible. For more information contact Diane Reed.

Present dictionaries to all children in the third grade at your local elementary schools. This is the year students make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Empower and encourage students to become strong readers. Ordering and information - http://www.dictionaryproject.org

Help students avoid the summer slide by supplying Summer Reading Book Packets. New research indicates that sending books home with children over the summer can close the rich/poor reading achievement gap just as effectively as summer school attendance and yield greater achievement gains. For details and info contact Lyn at ljaneteas@Scholastic.com.

Support Read Orange County and the literacy programs provided by the Southern California Library Literacy Network in Orange County Volunteer tutors are needed! http://www.readoc.org.

Learn about the Read to Me Preschool Literacy Project that gives families literacy packets that contain a child’s Read to Me t-shirt, 2 books and developmental reading information for parents. Contact District Literacy Chair Teri Snyder for more information.

Distribute free Reading by 9 Parent Reading Guides to community parents to assist them in raising readers at home. http://www.latimes.com/readingby9

Sign up as a Scholastic Literacy Partner and order books at reduced pricing. Books must be distributed to children for use in their homes for FREE.