Why does the Adult Literacy League offer Family Literacy?
“The goal of family literacy is to raise the literacy skills of parents and to give those adults the tools they need to support the literacy development of their children.” One of the top goals listed by our adult learners when they apply for our program is to be able to read to their children and to help them with their homework. Parents are told they are their child’s first and most important teacher and it is often left at that. Our Family Literacy Program strives to give parents the tools they need and the direction they deserve to be that effective, positive teacher for their child.

"Read to Me!" Book Club

The "Read to Me!" Book Club is one way we do that. We offer this program to Orange County Head Start, the Winter Park Day Nursery and other sites. It is a weekly take-home literacy kit: each week the child receives a free new book with related activities designed to enhance his pre-literacy skills. Parent and child read the book together and work on the activities together. This enables the parents to ‘learn to be a teacher’ and gives them the materials with which to do so. There is an Activity Sheet with a space for the parent’s comments and a space for the child to draw a picture and tell his parent what the picture is about. This Activity Sheet must be returned in order to receive the next installment of book and materials.

"Read to Me!" Book Club

We also have a mail-away version of the Read to Me! Book Club. For our adult learners whose children are not enrolled in a participating preschool center, this is a wonderful way for them to participate in the program. We also serve other adults reached through our pediatric literacy program in the Winter Garden Children’s Health Center and through other organizations who serve the same population we serve.

Who is Eligible to Participate?
All of our ALL adult learners with young children (generally, ages 3 to 6 years old) are eligible to participate. For others who are not ALL students, eligibility is based on income and the individual child and family needs.

A new ESL student at the Adult Literacy League, Rieko Panton, has a five year old daughter and recently registered for the "Read to Me!" Book Club. She said, “This is a great opportunity for me. Since English isn’t my first language, I don’t know how to choose books for my daughter.” Additionally, Rieko realizes that by reading children’s books with her daughter, her own English language skills will improve.

Parent Comments

• “One thing I learned from this [program] is how my child can learn and have fun at the same time.”
• “[This] was a great experience. Thank you very much!!!”
• "[I learn] vocabularies that I can practice with my child.”
• "My son gets very excited by the reading".
• “One thing I liked about the program was spending valuable time with Xavier, creating a reading pattern and collecting new books for Xavier.”

Family Literacy Parties

A favorite feature of the "Read to Me!" Book Club is the Family Literacy Parties we periodically offer. Families come together at the ALL office. A variety of literacy activities is offered including reading a book and doing a “Make & Take” activity. A copy of the book read is given to each family to keep and there are door prizes for more books and literacy tools. This is a delightful learning experience where families experience first hand that reading is fun and that reading together is wonderful!

Eligible parties may register their children for the "Read to Me!" Book Club online by clicking here (English / Spanish) or by contacting Sherry Clark, Director of Family Literacy at 407-422-1540 to receive a registration form.

If you wish to volunteer for Family Literacy, you can help by participating in our Family Literacy Parties held not only at the office, but in various community venues. We participate in large community events during the year and often need volunteer help for those specific events. If you are interested in helping in that way, please call Sherry Clark, Director of Family Literacy at 407-422-1540.