Ten Ways to Support Early Literacy Development Prior to Entering Kindergarten!

             It is March and schools everywhere are celebrating and holding events to highlight the importance of reading.  We know that children who learn to read by third grade are better able to then read to learn throughout the remainder of their life.  Developing a strong foundation for learning to read starts well before a child enters kindergarten.  The road to becoming a reader starts from birth.  The following are some ways all members of the community can support our youngest citizens in learning to read.

1. Join the Read Aloud Campaign www.readaloud.org  and read to your child 15 minutes every day!
2. Make a dinner date with the Cat in the Hat for the Magnificent Mondays at McDonalds in March.  A percentage of sales from 3pm-7pm will be donated to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Ionia County.  The dates are March 16th in Ionia and March 23 in Belding.  The Cat will be there from 5-7!  Drive thru sales count too!
3. Donate to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Ionia County.  It costs only $27.00 for a child to receive a book a month for an entire year!  What a great gift to a young child. All donations are tax-deductible.  Make checks payable to Ionia ISD-DPIL and send to the Ionia ISD, 2191 Harwood Rd, Ionia, MI 48846 or check us out online at ioniaisd.org/dpil. You can also donate via United Way and earmark your donation for the DPIL program in Ionia.
4. Check out what your local library has to offer for preschool and toddler story programs or plan an outing with your child to the local library to pick out some books to take home to read.
5. Buy raffle tickets to win a one-of-a-kind Green Eggs and Ham quilt.  All proceeds benefit DPIL. You can view the quilts and see where to purchase tickets at ioniaisd.org.
6. Drink coffee and support DPIL!!  Biggby Coffee in Ionia is donating a dollar for every Grande or specialty coffee sold during the month of March.  Vouchers are available right at the check-out.
7. “Like” the Ionia Imagination Library Facebook page to learn more about the program and events that may be coming up.  Like it today and tell us if you have seen one of the billboards we have up in the community!
8. Get children connected to preschool! Fill out the collaborative preschool application to see if your child may be eligible for Head Start or the Great Start Readiness Preschool Program.  The application can be found at ioniaisd.org.   Just click on the preschool application button.
9. Join the Ionia Reads …from Birth campaign and buy a T-shirt to help support and advertise the DPIL program.    Contact Jeannine Brown at jbrown@ioniaisd.org or call 522-1409 to place an order today.  Shirts are $15.00!  T-shirts can be viewed on the Ionia Imagination Library Facebook page.
10. If you are a parent of a child under the age of 4, consider participating in one of our parent child playgroups next fall.  The playgroups have a very strong literacy component and are designed to teach parents how they can promote early literacy skills at home.  You can learn more about the playgroups ioniaisd.org/earlychildhood/playgroups.php or by contacting Jenny Playter at 1-616-527-4900 Ext. 1462 or jplayter@ioniaisd.org.

This article was contributed by Cheryl Granzo, Director of Early Childhood Programs at Ionia ISD.