- ABC 27's "If You Give a Child a Book" campaign kicks off Monday.
- Community donations will allow students at our neighborhood schools to take home books and build their own library at home.
- Watch the video to below to hear from students about why they love reading and how you can be a part of sustaining this passion.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Boosting learning gains with new books.
Research shows students with high reading proficiency by the end of 3rd grade are more likely to remain in school. This year, our ABC 27 "If You Give a Child a Book" campaign will donate books to students here to help with that goal.
At Riley, I found some of the biggest reading fans and asked them why they love to read.
"I love reading because it just helps me learn," said 5th grader, Micah. "Science, history, and sometimes even cooking."
"It makes your brain like stronger, and you can get smarter by reading," said Josue, another student.
"You can learn new experiences in books," said Londin.
It's a hobby and a passion for these students that's helping their academic performance, and it's also fun.
"It makes me a stronger student in reading and math because in math there are reading problems," said Micah.
"[I get] really excited to answer [the teacher's] question because I know the answer to the question," said Josiah. "I have a big bookshelf with a lot of books on there."
Some of those include books, for Josiah, include donations from our ABC 27 "If you Give a Child a Book" campaign.
Donations from the community enable us to gift students at Riley and other neighborhood schools free books to take home.
"It allows our students to build that connection at home, and build that library at home," said Assistant Principal, Gladys Calloway. "It's so important to go home, sit down with their families, and read to them."
Calloway said installing a love of reading has helped Riley to remain at a C grade from the Florida Department of Education,
For 3rd graders, Riley saw a 3% increase in students achieving three of the highest grade levels, Levels 3, 4, or 5, for English Language Arts in 2024.
Calloway said this progress is noticeable in the classroom.
"Vocabulary, Vocabulary is big," said Calloway. "So we see a lot when they're writing in class, we see that they're using the words they're reading in books."
Beyond academic success, Calloway said access to books instills a greater sense of self-assurance in these students - the key to unlocking their personality and development.
"I feel confident, not somewhat confident, just confident, like all the way high, just confident,", said George, another 5th grader.
If you'd like to help gift more books to students here, we appreciate any donations to allow students to build their own libraries at home, and continue learning beyond the classroom.
You can make a donation here and find out more about the campaign.
We thank you in advance for your help to meet needs in our community.
