How does MOTHEREAD/FATHEREAD, L.A. work?
The best children's books deal with important issues: Community. Responsibility. Unconditional love. Ideas like these are what parents in MOTHEREAD/FATHEREAD, L.A. are trained to find in children's books. In small groups led by trained MOTHEREAD/FATHEREAD, L.A. facilitators, parents are encouraged to explore and personalize the meaning of classic and multicultural stories. They are guided in ways to find themselves in the characters, pictures and stories of children's books. They also discover how to bring these messages home to their children with dramatic reading skills and interactive activities. Along the way, parents find that the program helps improve their own reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Participants praise the support they find upon first joining the parent groups; many report on how deeply meaningful they find the time they spend reading with their children. MOTHEREAD/FATHEREAD's companion program, Storysharing, reaches out to children directly. In a Storysharing session, a trained adult reads aloud to a group of children and encourages them to talk about the story they have heard and to participate in arts and crafts activities that deepen their understanding of the books they have heard. Storysharing creates a positive connection to literacy and sets the stage for a lifetime of learning. For more information, contact Program Manager Debra Colman at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, 213/630-2391, dcolman@unitedwayca.org.