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Parenting: Community coming together to promote reading

Promoting literacy
Posted at 7:19 AM, Mar 08, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-08 08:44:30-05

It does not take much to get a little imagination going.

"It broadens your vocabulary comprehension," Sharad Joseph, educator, and father, said. "If you don't have that, books in the home and aren't reading with your child and they're not reading with you, then it shuts down the imagination."

Joseph said people must get back to the basics when it comes to literacy and that is the ability to read and write.

"And without having that ability it'll make life harder."

While it is important to have books in the home, Joseph said some kids do not have that opportunity.

However, there are ways to get around that.....

"Just because you don't have the ability to have books in your home, you do have a local library that you go to never let the window of opportunity pass you up," Joseph said. "If you're in the grocery store, you see street signs, or signs on the side of the road you can start there."

According to www.louisianabelieves.com only 40% of Louisiana kindergartners, 42% of first graders, 48% of second graders, and 50% of third graders are at or above grade level literacy.

"Reading is an avenue for getting information and developing," Bishop James Proctor said. "Reading makes a broader individual."

Proctor, who is also the Vice President of the Acadia Parish School Board, said for years they have been working to get books into the homes of all Acadia Parish students.

"It's an advantage to have these books in your possession," Proctor said. "The more books you have around young people the more they're going to look at them and read them. When my grandchildren were coming up I'd insert their name into it and make the story about them. At that time they were able to make a connection."

Click on the link below for more information and statistics shared in this story:

https://www.louisianabelieves.com/newsroom/news-releases/2021/04/12/louisiana-announces-new-literacy-initiative-to-help-spark-a-reading-revival-across-the-state