Literacy Buddies Create Excitement for Learning

Imagine you are three years old.  You are in pre-school class, playing with your friends.  The teacher hands you a brown envelope that is ADDRESSED TO YOU.  In it is a book that is about a thing you like, and it has YOUR NAME in it.  The teacher reads the book to the class, and then you get to take the book home.  It is YOURS.  It is the FIRST BOOK you have ever owned. 

 

The Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County (ELC) seeks to ensure that children enter kindergarten ready to learn.  The Literacy Buddy program pairs pre-school children with adults.  It’s like pen pals.  The children make a drawing showing a book subject - for example, “a book about cars.”  With the teacher’s help, the request is sent to the child’s “buddy.”  The buddy buys an age-appropriate book about cars, writes a note to the child, adds a bookplate with the child’s name to the book, and puts the book with the letter in an envelope addressed to the child at their pre-school.  

 

Buddies do this three times a year, so by the end of the year, involved children have at least three books of their own.  So please consider being a pre-schooler’s buddy.  You may change a life.