EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY ENHANCED THROUGH MULTI-CULTURAL PROGRAM

June 2005 -  Thanks to teachers Grace Taccad and Mary Soto, the school was awarded a $5,000 Early Childhood Literacy Grant from Inner-City Scholarship Fund for its project, “Reading: A Bridge Between You and Me.” The project provided students in grades pre-k through one with literary experiences highlighting the cultures of the world. They learn that all cultures, including their own, are special, and that all the people of the world are God’s children.

Through the grant, teachers are able to read and expose students to a wide variety of multicultural books such as folk tales, fairy tales, and historical fiction, and create multicultural text sets focusing on specific themes. Because English is a second language for many of our students, teachers use technology and audiovisual materials to assist students in developing fluency. This includes colorful posters with multicultural themes, flannel boards, audio books and activities, videos, and CD-roms with reading and multicultural awareness.

Especially at the early childhood level, children learn through play. Teachers use a variety of dramatic and artistic activities, including role-playing, puppet shows, dramatic play, music, crafts, rhymes, and dance.

The students and teachers celebrated the culmination of their project with a presentation for parents and school community members, on May 26. The teachers also presented the unit at the reporting session for Library Connections, a library resource grant funded by the Patrons Program of the Archdiocese of New York.