The Brain’s Remarkable Growth

The early years are a period of rapid brain development. From birth to age three, a child’s brain grows to 80% of its adult size, forming more than a million neural connections every second. This growth sets the stage for lifelong learning and emotional health.

The Power of Early Experiences

Research tells us that early experiences significantly influence brain development. Positive interactions, such as reading together, talking, and playing, help build strong neural pathways that are crucial for cognitive, social, and emotional development. 

Social-Emotional Development: The Heart of Learning

Social-emotional development is as critical as cognitive development in early childhood. Babies and toddlers learn about emotions and relationships through their interactions with caregivers. Consistent, nurturing relationships provide a safe and secure foundation, allowing children to explore their environment, develop empathy, and build resilience.

The Role of Reading in Early Development

Reading with children from an early age offers many benefits. It fosters a love of books, strengthens the parent-child bond, and supports emotional regulation and understanding. Through stories, children learn to recognize and manage emotions, develop problem-solving skills, and build a sense of identity and empathy.

Supporting Early Literacy and Family Engagement 

At Raising a Reader, we understand the critical role early experiences play in a child’s development. Our programs are designed to empower families with the tools and knowledge to create enriching, literacy-rich environments. By sharing books and reading together, families can support their children’s cognitive and social-emotional growth, laying a strong foundation for future success.

Join Us in Celebrating 25 Years of Raising a Reader

This year, as we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we invite you to join us in our mission. #We’reStrongerTogether

“The summer months offer an opportunity to reinforce and build upon the learning that occurs during the school year,” said Michelle Sioson Hyman, Senior Vice President, Program and Partnerships at Raising a Reader. “However, without resources and learning activities, children can experience significant setbacks in their educational progress, commonly referred to as the ‘summer slide.'” 
 

The Importance of Summer Learning 

Research indicates that students can lose up to two months of reading and math skills if they are not actively learning over the summer. This loss is more pronounced among students from families navigating strategic barriers, who may have less access to educational resources during the break.  

Key Strategies for Effective Summer Learning 
 

• Establish a Reading Routine: Make reading together with children a daily habit. Set aside a specific time each day for reading. Consistency helps children incorporate reading into their daily life and maintains their literacy skills. 

• Embrace Reading Anywhere: Turn every environment into a reading opportunity. Long drives can be perfect for books and family discussions about a currently reading book. Short trips around town can become interactive lessons where children read road signs, shop names, and menus. This approach helps integrate reading with daily activities, making it a regular part of children’s lives. 

• Access to a Variety of Reading Materials: Ensure children have access to diverse books that capture their interest. Libraries are excellent resources for exploring.  

• Rhyme Time: Engage in rhyming games and activities. Rhymes are fun and help young children develop an ear for language, which is essential for reading readiness. 

• Letter Recognition Games: Play games that involve spotting letters in the environment, like on signs or in books. You can also create homemade letter cards and have your child match them or arrange them in alphabetical order. 

• Cooking Together: Involve children in simple cooking activities. Cooking involves reading recipes, measuring ingredients, and following steps, which are all educational. 

• Involve Parents in Reading: Reading together as a family builds brains, strengthens bonds and resilience, and enhances children’s academic success by exposing them to richer vocabularies and complex narrative structures, crucial for developing strong reading and comprehension skills.  

” We know that by providing families resources to incorporate fun ways of learning at home throughout the summer, we can help students return to school ready to learn and succeed,” added Sioson Hyman. “Our Super Summer Learning Adventures Program is designed to make learning a fun and integral part of the summer for every child and their family.” 

The disruptions caused by the pandemic have had a profound impact on education, with many students experiencing learning loss and social emotional setbacks. To mitigate these effects and ensure a successful academic rebound, experts are advocating for increased investments in summer reading programs. 

“Summer reading programs offer a unique opportunity to bridge the learning gap and provide much-needed support for students,” says Michelle Torgerson, President and CEO of Raising a Reader. “By engaging students and their families together in enriching reading activities during the summer months, we can help prevent the loss of critical literacy skills and stimulate cognitive development.” 

Beyond academic benefits, summer reading programs also play a pivotal role in fostering social emotional learning (SEL). Students who participate in these programs develop important social and emotional skills such as empathy, self-awareness, and resilience, which are crucial for their overall well-being and future success in school and beyond. 

“Investing in summer reading programs can yield significant returns for communities,” says Torgerson. “Research has consistently shown that students who participate in such programs contribute to reduced summer learning loss, narrowing achievement gaps, and fostering a lifelong love for reading.” 

Research has shown that children who do not engage in reading and other educational activities over the summer can lose up to two months of academic progress. This loss disproportionately affects children from lower resourced communities, exacerbating educational inequalities. 

“Addressing the summer slide is crucial to our ongoing efforts to promote early literacy and combat educational inequities,” said Rebecca Crystal, Managing Director, Programs & Partnerships at Raising a Reader. “Raising a Reader’s Super Summer Learning Adventures Program empowers children and their families with the tools, resources, and support they need to not only mitigate learning loss but also thrive academically.” 

###

The bilingual English/Spanish kidappolis app is is aligned with RAR’s mission to engage caregivers in a routine of meaningful learning with their children from birth through age eight to foster healthy brain development, healthy relationships, a love of reading, and the literacy skills critical for school success.

“We are thrilled to be the recipient of the donation of kidappolis. This is a great opportunity for Raising A Reader to learn how we can innovate using technology to increase home literacy and learning,” said Michelle Torgerson, Raising A Reader President and CEO.

LitLab, a Bay Area based literacy nonprofit will soon be sunsetting as a stand-alone nonprofit and is generously donating their digital application kidappolis to Raising A Reader’s suite of home learning offerings.

“We’re really excited to donate the app to an organization that is aligned with our mission, strengthening families, and supporting home.  Our goal has always been to bring home learning opportunities to more families, and donating the app to Raising A Reader, will help the app to have national reach.,” said Laura Reed, LitLab’s former CEO.

Raising A Reader has started working with families to explore learning outcomes for families who use the app.

How do I access kidappolis? Is it free? 

You can download the “school edition” of kidappolis to explore enhancing home learning. To use the app for free, use this code: RARPilot 

Kidappolis – Apps on Google Play 

Kidappolis: School Edition on the App Store (apple.com) 

The communities we serve through Raising a Reader (RAR)—from rural to suburban to urban—are not monolithic. One of our top priorities is to offer a diverse and inclusive multilingual book collection that is inclusive of all readers.

We believe having access to diverse and inclusive books opens avenues for learning and engagement across lines of difference and offers a powerful opportunity to create shared understanding and empathy around ideas and issues.

Banning books contributes to the further minimization of important issues that many children and families face, including people of color, LGBTQAI+, and disproportionately marginalized communities.

Books are mirrors, windows and sliding doors. We want all children to be able to see themselves in books and experience other cultures, backgrounds and lived experiences. We want all families to celebrate reading together and promote open access to ideas, both of which are keys to raising a reader.

While decisions on which books stay on the school library shelves is largely a local matter, removing a book based on its content could be a violation of the First Amendment.

In the 1982 case, Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School v. Pico, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students have the same First Amendment rights as anyone else in school libraries, and that “local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books.”

At RAR, we see book banning as a form of censorship and a troubling retreat from America’s historic commitment to First Amendment rights, that protect students’ rights to receive and express ideas.

Raising a Reader’s three programs offer a variety of book collections that are selected at the local level by RAR partners to suit the “windows and mirrors” for the families they serve. The Classic book bag model offers 3-4 high quality multicultural children’s books in each bag that are rotated on a weekly basis.

Our FSRP and SSLA programs offer 4-6 high quality multicultural children’s books for families to share. Families have the freedom to share specific books—or all of them with their children.

We will continue to support choice in books by our community partners through RAR’s programming and will continue to champion books that are representative of the many diverse cultures, races and genders of the children and families we work with.

I know first-hand the positive impact a caring adult can make in the life of a child. ​ 

When I was little, we didn’t have access to a lot of books or resources. My parents had their own truck repair business, and I went to work with them every single day. My mom would read me stories from the newspaper each morning, and in the afternoons, you could find me in a truck bay with my dad, reading a Kelly Blue Book. The one-on-one time that we spent together helped to shape my life trajectory. ​ 

When I got to Kindergarten, I was curious and resilient, and over informed on the market value of used vehicles! And for the first time my family gained access to education enrichment programs which helped my academics soar.​

The first eight years of a child’s life are critical for setting them up for lifelong success. Unfortunately, not all children and families have access to a powerful system that helps families thrive and establish effective early learning practices. 

Children learn best through their everyday experiences with the people they love and trust, and when the learning is fun. Raising a Reader’s three programs supports building healthy relationships through these everyday experiences by providing the tools and resources for families to develop, practice, and maintain home literacy routines.

Building book sharing routines supports a child’s development, builds special connections that are critical to brain development and helps children develop their sense of belonging and community—especially when they see themselves reflected in the books they are reading. And they are more likely to excel academically, contributing to narrowing the opportunity gap created by systemic racial injustice.​ 

​Raising a Reader also strengthens the family and school relationships and increasing family engagement opportunities. Family engagement—in schools, childcare centers and other places and spaces—contributes to positive student outcomes, including improved child achievement, decreased disciplinary issues, improved parent-teacher and teacher-student relationships, and improved school environment. 

Learn more about Raising a Reader.

Not only does access to quality maternal healthcare options ensure the good health of a mother – it has far-reaching impacts on children, families and communities.  

The recent SCOTUS ruling puts women’s health in jeopardy, especially black and brown women and those living in poverty. 

This is why at Raising a Reader we are lifting up and emphasizing the critical role of our partners at Black Women’s Health Imperative and our Promise Venture Studio fellowship peers, Birth Detroit and Health Connect One. 

We know that moms—and parents, are at the center of their child’s development, learning and growth. They make sure children are healthy and safe and equip them with the skills and resources to be successful. And, right now, when so many things are outside of a person’s control, Raising a Reader supports parents in being in the driver’s seat by empowering them with the knowledge, resources and training they need to help develop a foundation of success. 

We are committed to working together in radical collaboration to support innovative solutions to urgent issues affecting women and their health.