Local Head Start Receives Early Literacy Award

Ponca City – Success By 6 Smart Start Kay County is pleased to announce that Ponca City Head Start has been named the recipient of the Outstanding Raising A Reader award for Kay County. Sheila Arnold serves as director of the Ponca City Head Start program. 

Raising A Reader is a nationally recognized early literacy program that fosters healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills critical for kindergarten success by engaging parents in a daily read-aloud routine with their children from birth to age five.  Through a child-driven process, Raising A Reader rotates bright red bags filled with the highest quality age-appropriate books into homes each week.  The book rotation, combined with research-based training and a strong connection to the local library, motivates families to establish "book cuddling" routines with their little ones, leading to a love of books that lasts a lifetime.

Children who have been read to from an early age are more likely to become successful readers.  Through listening to stories children start to develop an understanding of language, new vocabulary and concepts, a love of books and a desire to become a reader. 

“We are very pleased to recognize the efforts of Sheila Arnold and the staff at Ponca City Head Start,” said Lilly Freeman, Success By 6 Smart Start Kay County Coordinator and Raising A Reader® Coordinator for Kay County.  “They exceeded our expectations in the areas of classroom management, parent/child engagement, teacher preparation and enthusiasm,” concluded Freeman.

Under the leadership of Success By 6 Smart Kay County, Raising A Reader has been implemented in the following locations:

Child Development Center of Ponca City Inc., Country Day Learning Center, Ponca City Head Start, Ponca Tribe Head Start, Teen Parent Education Program (Teen PEP), Northside Early Learning Center, McCord Elementary?). 

Raising a Reader has also been implemented at Frontier, Shidller, Woodland, Hominy, Avant, and Bowring in partnership with the Osage Interlocal Cooperative.

Raising A Reader is a statewide early literacy initiative promoted by Smart Start Oklahoma.  Smart Start Oklahoma is a grassroots initiative that supports families as they raise children who are safe, healthy, eager to learn and ready to succeed in school.  By increasing awareness of local civic and business leaders, educators and volunteers and by collaborating with local service providers, Smart Start makes better use of programs or resources that already exist.  There are currently 18 Smart Start Oklahoma communities across the state, including Success By 6 Smart Start Kay County.

For more information about Raising A Reader or Success By 6 Smart Start Kay County contact Lilly Freeman, Community Coordinator at 580-765-9015 or by email at uwsuccessby6@cableone.net. 

To learn more about Smart Start Oklahoma go to www.smartstartoklahoma.org

or call 405-278-6978.

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