(June 9, 2016) For more than a decade, the Worcester County Commission for Women has supported literacy programs in local elementary schools, donating almost 10,000 books to students each year.
On Monday, volunteers from the local nonprofit gave bags of books to children across the county as part of the annual McGuffey Bookworm Club program.
The program is named after the McGuffey Reader, one of the first textbooks used by U.S. schools in the mid-19th century. Each bag contains three-to-four books, along with a letter to the parents explaining the program, and a bookmark officially swearing the students into the club.
Commission member Linda Dearing, who was distributing books at Showell Elementary on Monday, said the program was started to help prevent the reading education drop-off that often occurs during summer vacation.
“We knew that the reading levels of the children in Worcester County weren’t as high as they should be, so we decided to implement a summer reading program,” she said. “There were studies done that the children stopped reading in June and don’t read until September, when they start back. By then, they’re playing catch up.”
The commission receives price breaks from the Scholastic Corporation publishing company, which also offers suggestions as to what books are appropriate for each grade level. Money for the program comes from grants and private donations.
When the program began, the commission gave books to every student in the county enrolled in grades kindergarten through third. Dearing said poor economic conditions caused the commission to cut that back to just grades first through third.
“We hope to add kindergarten back in during the next year or so,” she said.
Women at the Worcester County Jail, thanks to a cooperative program, put together the individual bags.
“By doing so they earn community service credits towards their jail time,” Dearing said. “A lot of these women have school children that are in the schools that are getting the bags. We tried doing it just ourselves, with just the women’s commission – it was a tremendous task. You’re talking about over 2,000 students.”
Participating schools include Buckingham Elementary, Most Blessed Sacrament, Ocean City Elementary, Pocomoke Elementary, Showell Elementary, Seaside Christian Academy and Snow Hill Elementary.
“Every school in the county this morning is getting these books,” Dearing said. “Hopefully, after getting the bags and the books they’re getting from us they’ll also go to the library and take advantage of the summer programs that the library offers too.”
Marley Noonan, a third grader in Ms. Davidson’s class, said she was thrilled to get her own bag. First, she planned to read the Hardy Boy book she received.
“I’m definitely going to read this one, because it’s about baseball and I really like baseball,” she said.
On Monday, volunteers from the local nonprofit gave bags of books to children across the county as part of the annual McGuffey Bookworm Club program.
The program is named after the McGuffey Reader, one of the first textbooks used by U.S. schools in the mid-19th century. Each bag contains three-to-four books, along with a letter to the parents explaining the program, and a bookmark officially swearing the students into the club.
Commission member Linda Dearing, who was distributing books at Showell Elementary on Monday, said the program was started to help prevent the reading education drop-off that often occurs during summer vacation.
“We knew that the reading levels of the children in Worcester County weren’t as high as they should be, so we decided to implement a summer reading program,” she said. “There were studies done that the children stopped reading in June and don’t read until September, when they start back. By then, they’re playing catch up.”
The commission receives price breaks from the Scholastic Corporation publishing company, which also offers suggestions as to what books are appropriate for each grade level. Money for the program comes from grants and private donations.
When the program began, the commission gave books to every student in the county enrolled in grades kindergarten through third. Dearing said poor economic conditions caused the commission to cut that back to just grades first through third.
“We hope to add kindergarten back in during the next year or so,” she said.
Women at the Worcester County Jail, thanks to a cooperative program, put together the individual bags.
“By doing so they earn community service credits towards their jail time,” Dearing said. “A lot of these women have school children that are in the schools that are getting the bags. We tried doing it just ourselves, with just the women’s commission – it was a tremendous task. You’re talking about over 2,000 students.”
Participating schools include Buckingham Elementary, Most Blessed Sacrament, Ocean City Elementary, Pocomoke Elementary, Showell Elementary, Seaside Christian Academy and Snow Hill Elementary.
“Every school in the county this morning is getting these books,” Dearing said. “Hopefully, after getting the bags and the books they’re getting from us they’ll also go to the library and take advantage of the summer programs that the library offers too.”
Marley Noonan, a third grader in Ms. Davidson’s class, said she was thrilled to get her own bag. First, she planned to read the Hardy Boy book she received.
“I’m definitely going to read this one, because it’s about baseball and I really like baseball,” she said.