Woodward Elementary Reading

This year our group of five Rotary Clubs (North Atlanta, Brookhaven, South DeKalb, Dunwoody and Decatur) under AG Candace Klein partnered to provide reading readiness at Woodward Elementary. Brookhaven Rotary Club wrote a $10,000 District grant proposal to fund this project, and although it received the smaller District grant amount, through this partnership of clubs the total funding of $10,000 was achieved.

On Tuesday, September 27th we joined Brookhaven (lead), South DeKalb, Dunwoody, and Decatur Rotary Clubs as monthly volunteer classroom readers participating in the Early Reading Program for Pre-K and Kindergarten children at Woodward Elementary School. We are participating in the state-wide literacy effort to provide Language Nutrition, Access, and a Positive Learning Climate for these children, many of whom are from families where English is their second language. We are participating with the Ferst Foundation to provide each child with a new book every month. Volunteer readers read the book in the 13 classrooms and then each child takes a copy of the book home and reads it with their parent(s)/guardian(s). Each family will also receive a parent reading guide provided in English and Spanish.

We are distributing 792 books to 66 Pre-K students, 2184 books to 182 Kindergarten students, and translation of 24 parent reading guides into Spanish from September 2016 through May 2017. The total cost of the program is $10,000, takes approximately 77 volunteers contributing 105 volunteer hours.

Figures shown in the statistics section of this report reflect only NARClub's participation and financial contribution.