The Shelby Foundation is collaborating with Marvin Memorial Library to help local students embrace a love of reading.
Third graders from Auburn Elementary, Dowds Elementary, Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Most Pure Heart of Mary will have an opportunity to take a tour of the library, enjoy story time with a snack, and leave with a book purchased by The Shelby Foundation. Students will be assigned the book as part of their summer reading and it will be incorporated into their fourth grade reading lesson in the fall.
Foundation Chair Frank Benham said, “I enjoy having a good book. Our kids deserve to have this simple luxury of having a book of their very own. Hopefully, it helps foster a love of reading.”
The Foundation’s Board is taking a proactive stance with addressing issues in the community head on. Currently, third graders are tested at the state level for literacy competence. It is the school district’s goal to have as few of students on a reading improvement monitoring plan as possible. For 2015, approximately 47.3 percent of K-3 students in the district are on this plan. Statewide, 7,000 third graders were held back for poor reading last year.
Marvin Memorial Library Director Kathy Webb stated, “We want children to feel comfortable coming to the library. This is a great time to introduce students to the library because we have many summer programs that encourage kids to keep reading.”
Field trips to the local library are slated for the first week of May. For more information about this collaboration or the library’s summer reading programs contact Marvin Memorial Library or The Shelby Foundation.