Mamaroneck Preschoolers Get A Lead on Reading
by Terry Toll of the Mamaroneck Schools Foundation
 (December 1, 2003) While programs like National Children’s
Book Week put the spotlight on literacy once a year, here in Mamaroneck, the
Parent-Child
Home Program (PCHP) helps foster a love of learning in preschoolers
and their parents over the course of an entire year.
Children in eleven families challenged by obstacles to
success such as language barriers, low income and limited
education are receiving a head start in learning
their letters and numbers. A unique network for fostering parenting and family
literacy skills, the PCHP comes to Mamaroneck through the professional resources
of Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS), and funding from the Mamaroneck
Schools Foundation (MSF).
Based on the twin beliefs that parents are their children’s first, and
most important teacher, and that conversation promotes learning by developing
curiosity, imagination and independence in children, the Parent-Child Home
Program brings experts into homes to model comfortable ways for families to
embrace reading, and in the process, become more successful learners.
Preschoolers in the program see their own specially trained “Home Visitors” at
home twice a week, every week throughout the school year. These friendly visitors
help make reading an irresistible activity for young learners, with a carefully
assembled collection of books, toys, games and exercises. Children are drawn
to these “unofficial” teachers because they feel respected, understood
and excited by them. As one parent observed, “My daughter loves the home
visitor. She doesn’t want her to leave.”
The visits translate into other gains. Parents mention
new behaviors, such as a surge in kids’ language skills
and excitement about learning. Mothers note that their children
talk more,
and speak with larger vocabularies. Kids with little previous interest
or familiarity with reading
become curious and engaged. “Now my son is interested in looking at books.
He pretends even though he does not yet read!” noted one pleased parent.
And sometimes the change extends to overcoming fears about school, as this
mother explained, “The program motivated my son to look at books,
learn new words, and want to go to school.”
Parents are getting educated, too. They explain feeling
like they are learning alongside their children: learning
to read and explain books
in interesting
ways, to deal with their children’s questions, and to speak more
English.
As Amy Ross, WJCS’s Assistant Director of the Parent-Child Home Program
explained, “The program speaks to parents’ needs as much as to
those of children. Home visitors show them techniques for speaking and playing
with their preschoolers, in ways that expand vocabulary and understanding.
Parents then adopt and adapt these techniques. Library fliers, the parenting
magazine Ser Padre, and bimonthly newspapers in Spanish and English are distributed
to families. We want parents to see how important their role is, and to see
the impact they can have on their child’s intellectual development through
reading, playing and having fun together.”
The visitors find the program rewarding, as well. “You feel like you’re
doing something that makes a difference in the long run,” said Elizabeth
Stephens, who visited four Mamaroneck families last year and is visiting another
four this year. “Over time, you see more talkativeness. You bond with
the family and really develop a relationship.” Over 2,560 children in Westchester have participated in
WJCS’s “Parent Child Home Program” since
1972. This year’s participants from Mamaroneck have
come through a network of contacts at WJCS, local schools,
Community Action Program (CAP), The Guidance Center, Hispanic
Resource Center, Washingtonville Housing Alliance, and the
Women, Infants and Children Educational and Supplemental
Food Program (WIC).
“Enabling such a partnership to reach local families, and enrich their
children’s education, is something in which the Mamaroneck Schools Foundation
takes great pride,” said Sabrina Fiddelman, Foundation President. “We’re
delighted to provide such a wonderful head start for learning, and believe that
there is no better investment for the future than equipping our children with
the best skills they can develop.”
The Mamaroneck Schools Foundation, founded seven years ago, is a volunteer
non-profit community organization that provides schools with supplemental funds
or innovative programs, materials and enhanced facilities and equipment beyond
the regular school curriculum. MSF has awarded nearly $ 700,000 in grants to
programs in every public school in the district.
Photo courtesy of Jonti-craft
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