June 4, 23013 - Chelsey Belmer - Reading Seed Children's Literacy Program

For over 15 years, the Reading Seed Children’s Literacy Program has been dedicated to helping children in Pima County learn to read so they can read to learn.

Reading Seed supports elementary schools and students by:

• Training volunteer Reading Coaches to work with students in kindergarten – 3^rd grade who are reading below grade level.
• Emphasizing reading as a positive experience in a non-judgmental environment.
• Increasing confidence, vocabulary and reading comprehension in students.
• Delivering high interest, low reading level literacy resources from the Reading Seed Lending Library to schools for Reading Coaches and teachers.
• Providing free books for students to encourage independent reading.

This school year, there are approximately 800 Reading Seed Reading Coaches working in over 100 schools in 9 school districts across Southern Arizona. All Reading Coaches are trained, fingerprinted, and have a background check completed prior to being placed at a school. Reading Seed also provides continuing professional development for Reading Coaches, as well as free materials and incentives to help keep the learning process fun and relevant for students.
http://literacyconnects.org/readingseed/