March is National Reading month — a time to celebrate books and encourage a love of reading in adults and children. For public media stations across the country, a commitment to education and especially literacy is at the heart of the public services they provide in their communities. Public media is perhaps best known for nationally produced programs such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Reading Rainbow and Martha Speaks that have proven successful teaching literacy skills to generations of young children. But many local public media stations also provide educational programs in their communities through reading camps and other initiatives that encourage young children to get excited about reading.
In Illinois, the Book Mentor Project, hosted by Illinois Public Media, brings together trusted public media programs with books and hands-on activities to encourages children up to age 5 to read. The program, which celebrates nine years this month, first began as a way to get books to children who might not have access to them at home. The program has since grown to include educational resources from PBS Kids Ready to Learn, an innovative partnership between Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, and our local public stations and their many community-based partners to improve literacy and math skills of children ages 2-8 years, as well as hands-on learning activities in and out of the classroom.
Once a month, one of more than 100 volunteers or mentors, trained by Illinois Public Media, visits a classroom to read to the students and lead them in a related activity. Many of the volunteers are from local businesses, community service organizations, student associations, and parent groups.
After mentors read Wonderful Worms aloud to one classroom, for example, students had the opportunity to get elbow-deep in dirt. With help from their teachers, they examined soil with a magnifying glass and shared what they saw. The students also watched the popular PBS children's show Sid the Science Kid and learned, along with Sid, that dirt is important because it contains nutrients that help plants to grow. This type of learning across multiple platforms and formats helps to reinforce critical literacy skills, particularly in early learners. It is not just the students who get something out of the mentor program, “Our teachers love this program. They appreciate the additional resources Illinois Public Media provides through math and science kits,” says Kelly Russell, Child Development Service Manager at Champaign County Head Start.
To encourage reading beyond the classroom, every child receives a copy of the book that the teacher or mentor has read to take home and add to their personal libraries. That adds up to six new books a year per child. Illinois Public Media distributes more than 5,000 books a year to more than 700 Head Start and early childhood families in Champaign County through the Book Mentor Project.
To keep up with the changing times and needs of the community, Illinois Public Media also reaches children and their families through online games and videos, DVDs, mobile apps, classroom math and science kits and family nights.
In Philadelphia, public media station WHYY is promoting a lifelong love of reading through its WHYY I Like This Book program, which encourages students from all grades — kindergarten to high school — throughout the Delaware Valley to their share their thoughts and opinions on their favorite books.
Students apply to be featured in a reading and literacy focused TV spot produced by WHYY, in which they talk about what aspects of the story they liked —the topic, the characters, the pictures or if the book is a family favorite — all in their own words. WHYY encourages librarians, parents, and educators to use WHYY I Like This Book as an opportunity for students to do extra credit assignments, as part of an after school program, as a library activity or as a project at home.
The WHYY I Like This Book program, now in its fourth year, has been very successful with students, parents and teachers. Jennifer Wheeler, WHYY's Children's Services manager, said parents and teachers are noticing an increased interest in reading: “They tell me the program helps inspire their children to read more books because they want to participate in the program.”
In addition, students are often more willing to read what their peers are reading for enjoyment, rather than as part of an assignment from a teacher or parent.
Due to the “tremendous response” the program has received, WHYY expanded the initiative and created an online book club. Here, visitors can find recommendations from kids and adults, as well as critical thinking questions to help encourage and hone reading comprehension skills.
To date the WHYY I Like This Book program has received more than 4,500 applications from students in 330 schools. To learn more about the program and how your child can apply to be featured in a WHYY I Like This Book spot on WHYY-TV please visit http://www.whyy.org/education/whyythisbook.php.