Leter to the Editor: Spring planting for literacy

Spring is in the air! Many of you are already planning your gardens, looking forward to sunshine and rejoice as trees begin to bud and flowers start to emerge.

Here at Plant a Seed … Read!, we are anxious for our Spring Planting for Literacy campaign from April through June to enable us to:

• Increase the awareness of the benefits of reading aloud to children from birth;

• Provide books through the Imagination Library to all children from birth to age 5 in Blaine and Hill Counties;

• Offer workshops to parents on purposeful play;

• Develop literacy kits for child care providers to check out;

• Volunteer opportunities for community members.

We are only able to do this through community support and telling others about Plant a Seed … Read!

Many parents have shared the excitement of the children when they receive a new book in the mail each month.

Melissa Cumings had this to say about one of her boys, Liam, when receiving his new book.

“We got out books in the mail today and Liam couldn’t wait to read his!! Book day is one of our favorite days. … Thank you so much Plant A Seed Read for such an awesome program that gets my kids excited about reading!!!”

As a proactive non-profit, we endeavor to take the opportunities of working with children and their families during this critical time from birth to age 5. This in turn strengthens a community by having children coming to school ready to learn and then becoming a leader and life-long learner.

Consider joining our team to ensure children have the readiness skills as they start kindergarten by simply having books read to them on a daily basis, building concepts about print, language and literacy development, social and emotional development while the brain is developing to 85 percent of its growth during these early years.

Of children entering kindergarten, 40 percent enter one to three years behind in these early readiness skills. This is a frightening statistic, but there is something we can do about it. Be proactive by donating to Plant a Seed … Read! $25 per year per child gives a child an age-appropriate book delivered to his/her home once a month.

Fill out the donation form available each week in Friday’s TV guide section and send it along with your donation to:

Plant a Seed…READ!

PO Box 782

Havre, MT 59501

Lorraine Verploegen

Plant a Seed … Read!