My Very Own Book is running our reading incentive program during the 2009-2010 school year at Elisha M. Pease Elementary (Dallas ISD), Mendenhall Elementary (Plano ISD) and Audelia Creek Elementary (Richardson ISD).     

Parents in participating elementary schools in low-income neighborhoods will be asked to become a reading partner to their child and follow the helpful guidelines below.   

1.  Choose a quiet place where your child (or you and your child) can read without being interrupted.  Be sure a running TV or radio will not disturb you.  Let the phone go to voicemail.

2.  Whether your child is reading alone or with you, make the reading session at least 15 minutes, gradually increasing the time as he/she is ready.

3.  If the book is too difficult for your child to read alone, it is fine to read to your child or along with him/her.

4.  Discuss the story with your child so that comprehension will improve.

5.  Do no correct your child unless it affects the meaning of the story.  If your child needs help with a word, calmly say the word, which will keep the story flowing, thus allowing better comprehension and enjoyment.

6.  Each Thursday evening or early Friday morning fill out the Reading Club Log with your child.  Make sure he/she takes it to school and turns it in to the teacher on Friday.

Parents will be helping their child not only become a proficient and happy reader, but will also be helping him/her earn rewards for the effort.  Reading is important and we want to honor those who take time to do it.

At the end of each six weeks period, each teacher will turn in all weekly reading logs to the Reading Club Coordinator.  After reviewing the logs, Reading Awards Assemblies will be held to honor the students.  The following awards may be earned:

PreK – 1^st Grades                        2^nd – 3^rd Grades                           4^th – 6^th Grades

100 min. = bronze certificate        350 min. = bronze certificate         600 min. = bronze certificate 

300 min. = silver certificate           500 min. = silver certificate           800 min. = silver certificate  

400 min. = gold certificate            600 min. = gold certificate             900 min. = gold certificate

All students receiving any level certificate will receive a coupon for a free, new book provided by My Very Own Book.  The Reading Club Coordinator will arrange a time for students to redeem their coupon and select their very own book at the "Free School Book Store."

Stunning Literacy Statistics

Children who are read to frequently are nearly twice as likely as other children to show three or more skills associated with emerging literacy.[1]

Children who were read to at least three times a week by a family member were almost twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading than children who were read to less than 3 times a week.[2]

62% of parents with a high socioeconomic status read to their children every day, compared to 36% of parents with a low socioeconomic status.[3]

87% of students who reported reading for fun on their own time once a month or more performed at the Proficient level, while students who never or hardly ever read for fun performed at the Basic level. Students who read for fun every day scored the highest.[4]

Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.[5]

The only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home.[6]

Even children’s books have more varying and unusual words than prime time TV or children’s TV.  Also, rarity and variety of words in children’s books is greater than that in adult conversation.[7]

Students who reported having all four types of reading materials (books, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias) in their home scored, on average, higher than those who reporter having fewer reading materials.[8]

61 percent of low-income families have no books at all in their homes for their children.[9]

The educational careers of 25 to 40 percent of American children are imperiled because they don’t read quickly enough, or easily enough.[10]

It is estimated that the cost of illiteracy to business and the taxpayer is $20 billion per year.[11]

According to the National Academy on an Aging Society, 73 billion dollars is the estimated annual cost of low literacy skills in the form of longer hospital stays, emergency room visits, more doctor visits, and increased medication.[12]