The Hope Zone Promise Neighborhood is an initiative, funded by the U.S. Government, and
led by Omega CDC. The initiative was created to support 6,700 children living in Northwest
Dayton, and Preschool Promise has the unique opportunity to work with Omega CDC in
fulfilling one of four domains in their work with the Hope Zone; education.
In supporting Omega CDC’s efforts to create better educational opportunities for children, we
are partnering with four Preschool Promise Provider sites in a new program called Ready to
Read which is a five-year program that has moved from planning into implementation. Our
Ready to Read sites include On Purpose Academy, Mini University at the Hope Center for
Families, Dayton Public Schools’ Fairview Elementary, and WestPark Academy. The Ready to
Read Program aims to assist partner classrooms in fulfilling Preschool Promise’s vision of all
Montgomery, County, Ohio children being ready for kindergarten.
Scientifically based research, referred to as the Science of Reading, says that phonemic
awareness is an essential component of learning how to read, explains Latoria Marcellus,
Senior Director of Education Strategies for Preschool Promise. “We are providing our partner
sites with targeted training which will help them teach children the building blocks of
literacy. Our goal is to strengthen literacy skills so that children are prepared for
kindergarten.”
Let’s get excited about reading
Family Connection’s Manager Hertia Mims is looking forward
to the upcoming Family Kickoff events which will serve as the official launch of Family Book
Club. Here families will learn more about Kindergarten Readiness, and each child will receive
a backpack with books and literacy-focused games. Parents will also receive books to support
their reading.With built in incentives,the ultimate goal is for families to read 100 books by
June. “We will support families by providing books, children’s storytime at participating sites
and literacy workshops for parents,” says Mims. Families can find additional books by visiting
Dayton Metro Libraries or Preschool Promise Little Free Library locations located near Boonshoft Science Museum, the House of Bread and Stepping Stones Learning Center.
Classroom Coaching for Teachers
The Ready to Read project supports targeted provider classrooms by collaborating with
teachers and administrators through the implementation of intensive coaching, observations,
assessments, debriefing and monthly professional development. “This combined practice has
a strong focus on phonics that enables teachers to deliver explicit, systematic instruction for
reading and writing readiness skills for entering kindergarten,” explains Vaniti Byrd, Lead
Early Literacy Manager In addition, the Ready to Read program has implemented The
Heggerty Phonemic Awareness curriculum. Heggerty is a comprehensive approach to early
literacy instruction that aligns with the science of reading and provides students with
consistent and repeated instruction that is transferred to developing a student's decoding and encoding skills. This program will provide supplemental phonics instruction that will be used alongside The Creative Curriculum for Preschool.
For more information please visit our website at www.preschoolpromise.org/ReadytoRead
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