Note from Emily Simon

As a new member of the Rock for Reading Board of Directors, I was pleased to be invited to witness the reading awards at George Manierre Elementary School. Paul Natkin and I attended the event that is the culmination of the academic-year long partnership between the school and one of our grantees, Sit Stay Read!.

The school’s Principal, Shirley Roach, and the founder and Executive Director of Sit Stay Read!, MaryEllen Schneider, were on site to present the awards as well as offer the opportunity for the students to say goodbye to the dogs.

Rock for Reading also provided a book donation and each student received one book to take home and were able to select another book to pass on to a friend and give the gift of reading.

The school is part of Chicago Public Schools and is located in the Old Town neighborhood across the street from the Marshall Field Garden Apartments which is a subsidized housing project. The opportunity for the students to have individual attention focused on both reading and interacting with a dog and its owner is truly special and the excitement and pride of the students, dogs and owners was palpable!

Sit Stay Read! is the leading literacy organization in the United States to use dogs as a tool to improve reading skills and foster the love of learning in children living in poverty. Through a curriculum designed with the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Literacy, Sit Stay Read’s trained volunteers and certified dog teams improve reading fluency, make reading fun, and inspire children to become lifelong readers.

The event was very inspirational and I was able to see the students transformation from exciteable and demonstrative while accepting their awards to becoming kind and respectful when it was their turn to sit with the dogs, read to them and say goodbye!

The correlation between reading and interacting with a dog clearly expanded the students’ experiences and worldviews and I am so proud to be part of Rock for Reading and to make it possible. On a seemingly normal Monday in Spring, I also had my worldview and experiences broadended.

Rock and Read on!

Thanks from Sit Stay Read!

Dear Rock for Reading Friends,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for your donation of nearly 600 books to Sit Stay Read literacy programs—you ROCK!
It’s that time of year where we start organizing for the big Reading Rewards Celebration in all our classrooms. At the celebration, each of our 350 students gets to choose books of their very own to keep and one to give to a younger reader.
That means we need a LOT of books.  Jenn and Allison had a blast sorting the books and, as you can see, Shandy did a great job supervising.

Thanks to your generosity, we are well on our way to getting all the books we need.

We’re so grateful to Rock For Reading!

We’ll be sure to check back with you at the end of May to share photos of the kids and dogs having tons of reading fun.

MaryEllen Schneider  (and Shandy!)
Sit Stay Read
Executive Director

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to the Rock For Reading blog. You’ll be hearing from various board members and friends of the organization here; we’ll be talking not only about upcoming events and projects but also what we’re reading, feeling and thinking about.

Virtually everyone I talk to about R4R immediately gets it and asks the same question: “How can I help?” I thought I’d get the ball rolling here by sketching out an answer.

1. Volunteer. Odds are that your community has myriad literacy programs; sign up to read to people. It’s a powerful way to connect and to share the magic of books with folks, adults and kids alike, who are learning to read.

2. Donate books. Those piled-up paperbacks, yellowing novels and hardbound classics gathering dust on your shelves? They’re pure gold for programs like ours. Pack ‘em up, drop ‘em off and think about the adventures and insights they’ll bring to new readers.

3. Donate money. Sure, times are tough. But if you can spare a few dollars, you’ll find that donating to literacy is a huge investment in your community’s future.

4. Raise awareness. Are you the person in your circle who sends around e-mails full of worthy causes and inspiring stories? Send a message to your list about Rock for Reading and other literacy organizations. Suggested subject line: “If You Can Read This, You Can Help.” Are you a publicist, marketer, advertising whiz, copywriter, rabble rouser or consciousness raiser? Lend your people-reaching skills to the cause. Word of mouth is still the surest way to way to change the world.

Have you found a creative way to contribute to literacy in your community? We want to know about it. E-mail us at info@rockforreading.org.

More soon; I’ve got some reading to catch up on.

Love,

Alice