Children's Literacy

I made a post before about the literacy program I volunteer for, but I haven't actually made a post about the issue.
First, I think this video is cute:

Being someone who is drawing an animation like this, I applaud this person's work. I wish I could draw cute cartoons like this, but I'm doing the best I can. Gosh, this must have taken so long to do!!! I really enjoy it because reading does take you to an entirely new world!! :)
And now to the facts!

Children who are read to (by a family member) have more success in school, according to some statistics from the National Education Association. Some facts include that 60% of these children are able to count to 20 (verses the 44% of children who were not read to). Only 53% of children between the ages three to five are to daily, and these students perform better in academics like math. When parents are involved, the scores are even higher--in fact, there's a 74 point gap between the reading score of children with parent involvement and those without. So parents, read to your children!!! Children will be able to develop stronger reading skills that really benefit for more than school--reading signs and directions are just as important as being able to take a test efficiently.

The only way to get good at reading is to practice!!! For older children, instead of you reading to them, make them read to you. I did this for the literacy program I'm volunteering for at Punahou. It's very effective for reading comprehension, as you can ask questions throughout the book to make sure the children understand what they're reading. This really encourages them to pay attention and not breeze over what they read; sometimes when they understand what they're reading, the children enjoy the book even more.

This sign is made up of Dr. Suess' books :)