Sign Up for the ‘On the Road to Reading Challenge’
Presented by the Monrovia Public Library
The Monrovia Public Library is hosting a reading program for children ages 0-5 to help them gain school readiness skills. The goal is for adults to read as many books as possible to children from Sept. 1, 2015 through April 30, 2016. For every 50 books read, children will receive an incentive to encourage lifelong reading and early literacy skills.
Learning to read begins at birth, and parents and caregivers are a child’s first and best teacher. Reading everyday can increase a child’s narrative skills, letter knowledge, print awareness, phonological awareness, print motivation, and vocabulary before they head off to kindergarten. In fact, CNN reported in 2014 that by age four, children who have not been read to on a regular basis often hear fewer words, which leads to a limited vocabulary. 30 million children start kindergarten with a “word gap,” and have trouble catching up in their academic future. Parents and caregivers that are interested in participating in the “On to Road to Reading Challenge” can sign up at the Youth Services Desk at the Monrovia Public Library, or online at http://www.cityofmonrovia.org/library.