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Program Building Literacy Rates in Syracuse Local Program Building Literacy Rates in Syracuse

Book Buddies goal is to ensure that all students are reading at grade level.

By Alazia Williams

Anchor: A local program is using community volunteers to work with students for a half hour, two
times a week to help bring up literacy rates in Onondaga County. NCC’s Alazia Williams is here to tell us the story.

Reporter: Students at Seymour Academy would benefit from working one-on-one with a volunteers, this year Book Buddies has over 150 community members to contribute to their program.

Sasha Rasmussen: As a teacher we work on supporting students when they’re behind but when we have
community support as well it helps push our students further and they make more growth.

Reporter: Sasha Rasmussen is a first grade teacher at Seymour Academy, one of the poorest schools in the Syracuse City School District. Rasmussen says many of her students are behind in
their reading levels.

Reporter: Only 20 percent of the 3rd graders here in Syracuse City School District are reading at
their correct reading level. Here at Seymour Academy that number is significantly lower at 7 percent. That’s why ECA is trying to build that gap.

Reporter: Book Buddies was founded in 2014 by Early Childhood Alliance to give children 20 to 30 minute reading practice that they may not be able to get at home. Director of ECA, Laurie Black says this is a way to build a bond while learning.

Laurie Black:There’s a lot of positive relationships that are developed between the students and the volunteers as their practicing their reading over the course of a school year so in some ways it is like mentoring but more importantly it is a place where the kids are getting some academic practice.

Alazia Williams: Ashley Rivera, Book Buddies Coordinator, says because of the family environment and the love are able to give the children while helping them learn coming to work never feels like work.

Ashley Rivera: We are like the aunt and uncles like the teacher are the parents and we are the aunts and uncles so we provide them with love all the time and the we give them back. So that the
teacher the parents can be that stern figures in their life so we are defiantly like that cushion for them that soft area.

REPORTER: The goal of Book Buddies is to ensure that all students are reading at grade level by third grade, In Syracuse, Alazia Williams, N-C-C News.

ANCHOR: Book Buddies at Seymour is a partnership between Syracuse 20/20 and Seymour Academy. If Interested in volunteering visit E-C-AONONDAGA.ORG.

 

Book Buddies is a local program using the help of  community volunteers to work with students at Seymour Academy for a half hour, two times a week to help bring up literacy rates in The Syracuse City School District.

The program was developed because a lot of children in the Syracuse City School District are not reading on grade level by 3rd grade.

Laurie Black, Director of Early Childhood Alliance,  said there are three core components to becoming a strong reader.

  • Having a great classroom teacher
  • Getting reading intervention from a trained professional
  • Practicing reading

Book Buddies was designed so that students can get the extra reading experience they need.

Sasha Rasmussen , First Grade Teacher at Seymour Academy of Dual Languages, said “As a teacher we work on supporting students when they’re behind but when we have community support as well it helps push our students further and they make more growth.”

Students at Seymour Academy benefit from working one-on-one with a volunteers, this year Book Buddies has over 150 community members to contribute to their program.

The goal of Book Buddies is to ensure that all students are reading at grade level by third grade.

Book Buddies at Seymour is a partnership between Syracuse 20/20 and Seymour Academy. If Interested in volunteering visit ecaonondaga.org.

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