{"id":1564,"date":"2012-07-11T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T10:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1564"},"modified":"2012-07-09T10:51:32","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T14:51:32","slug":"program-aims-to-be-page-turner-for-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1564","title":{"rendered":"Program aims to be page-turner for families"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Sen. Andy Dinniman is shown reading with his dog, Henry, for the brochure on the summer reading program.<\/p><\/div>\n

Summer reading program to be held in Coatesville and West Chester<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSplash into Summer Reading 2012,\u201d a program developed in conjunction with the Chester County Intermediate Unit and the Chester County Coalition for Public Education, will serve hundreds of Chester County children and their families this summer, State Sen. Andy Dinniman announced last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudies have shown that the most important ingredient for academic success is parental involvement and that does not stop when schools let out for the summer,\u201d Dinniman said in a press release. \u201cOne of the goals of \u2018Splash into Summer Reading\u2019 is not only to encourage kids to keep reading during the summer months, but also to get parents directly involved in their children\u2019s literacy and reading readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program will serve children ranging from preschool to eighth grade and will take place at two sites in Chester County, the New Life In Christ Fellowship in Coatesville and the YMCA of the Brandywine Valley\u2019s Oscar Lasko Youth Program Center in West Chester. It was made possible by a literacy grant secured by Dinniman, who serves as minority chair of the Senate Education Committee.\u00a0The Chester County Intermediate Unit provided reading specialists to develop and oversee the program curriculum, as well as to train volunteers, the release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch shows that students who do not engage in meaningful educational activities over the summer can lose as much as two months of learning in reading and in math. Low-income students are particularly at risk for the \u2018summer slide,\u2019” said Mary Curley, communications director for the Chester County Intermediate Unit. \u201cThis is why summer reading programs are critical to help our students retain the learning that they have acquired over the school year and to develop and enhance their reading skills over the summer months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Dan Williams, pastor of New Life in Christ Fellowship in Coatesville, said his church was energized by the opportunity to serve as a host site. \u201cEngagement in the education of children is a matter of conviction, calling, and authentic concern for the church, the sideline is not the place for us,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThis has provided an opportunity for us to demonstrate, across denominational lines, a concern for people that is at the core of what and who the church is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen Flanders, executive director of the Oscar Lasko Youth Program Center, said that the \u201cSplash\u201d program would help build on the center\u2019s other efforts to support children\u2019s education and reading involvement in the summer months. \u201cThanks to Senator Dinniman\u2019s literacy grant, children ages 5 to 15 in our free YPAL Summer Camp are bringing reading to life,\u201d Flanders said.
\nDinniman emphasized that elements of the program were specifically designed to get Chester County parents and adults involved in youth reading and literacy over the summer months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no question that kids who read over the summer are better prepared to hit the ground running when they return to school in the fall. And there is no doubt that parents who get involved in their children\u2019s summer reading are more likely to remain involved in their children\u2019s education when the school year resumes,\u201d Dinniman said.<\/p>\n

In addition, Dinniman said he would continue his annual efforts to keep kids reading this summer, including visiting various libraries and summer reading programs throughout Chester County to present awards, posters and bookmarks.
\nAs part of the initiative, Dinniman\u2019s office worked with the Chester County Historical Society to release a series of 12 bookmarks featuring famous Chester Countians. The bookmarks are available to the public at many Chester County libraries and Dinniman\u2019s West Chester office.<\/p>\n

The bookmarks feature Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, Pennsylvania\u2019s 23rd governor; Joseph Trimbel Rothrock, an environmentalist known as \u201cthe Father of Forestry\u201d in Pennsylvania; Charlotte Moore Sitterly, an award-winning physicist and astronomer; Samuel Barber, a renowned composer of classic music; Ida Ella Ruth Jones, a self-taught artist known as \u201cThe Grandma Moses of Chester County;\u201d Rebecca Lukens, an entrepreneur and the matriarch of Lukens Steel; Dr. William Darlington, a prominent doctor, financier and statesman; Sara Louisa Vickers Oberholtzer, a poet, abolitionist and women\u2019s rights activist; Issac Israel Hayes, a famous Arctic explorer; Mother Maria Pacis, a lifelong educator and missionary; Dr. Ann Preston, a children\u2019s book author, doctor and activist; Brig. Gen. Hazel Johnson-Brown, a pioneer in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer reading program to be held in Coatesville and West Chester \u201cSplash into Summer Reading 2012,\u201d a program developed in conjunction with the Chester County Intermediate Unit and the Chester County Coalition for Public Education, will serve hundreds of Chester County children and their families this summer, State Sen. Andy Dinniman announced last week. \u201cStudies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,172],"tags":[20,495,10,24,494,496],"class_list":["post-1564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-events","tag-chester-county","tag-chester-county-coalition-for-public-education","tag-chester-county-intermediate-unit","tag-coatesville","tag-new-life-in-christ-fellowship","tag-sen-andy-dinniman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}