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Teacher puts grant to work to promote student reading by Teacher Nancy Mitchell wants parents to know they can teach their toddlers how to read using a Wheaties box or a package of bite-size Oreo cookies -- and she's getting help from a $25,000 grant to get her point across. Ms. Mitchell, a pre-kindergarten teacher in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, was recently awarded the First Lady's Literacy Initiative for Texas grant, which is offered by the Barbara Bush Foundation. The foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that promotes adult and child literacy. Since it was founded eight years ago by first lady Laura Bush, the Texas program has awarded nearly $2 million in literacy grants, according to information from the foundation Web site. The Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District was one of eight school districts in the state to receive the grant for this school year. Others include Dallas and Irving. What Ms. Mitchell wants to do is teach parents how to help their children develop a love of reading so the kids can go on to have successful careers and lives. And getting the parents involved early is crucial to making that happen. "It's an unbelievable difference when the parents help their kids," said Ms. Mitchell, who teaches two classes at the district's pre-kindergarten center in Farmers Branch and helped write the proposal for the grant. Dr. Marelou Cisneros, a former principal at the pre-kindergarten center, and Melanie Magee, who teaches adult education, were the co-writers. One of the challenges Ms. Mitchell and her staff face is helping parents become proficient enough in English to teach their children how to read. Of the nearly 350 children enrolled at the school, nearly 90 percent of them are Hispanic. Many of the parents are not literate in their own language -- Spanish, Ms. Mitchell said.The two-part project, called Family Literacy in Progress, or FLIP for short, will run for 24 weeks. The program is expected to start in October. Parents will teach their children using books and toys, playing games and using day-to-day activities, such as grocery shopping, to encourage reading."We kind of take it for granted that we play those license plate games" where children have to identify the state the plates are from, Ms. Mitchell said. Parents will get a learning kit with stuffed animals, markers, magnetic letters and other materials to create reading games they can play with their kids. Books for the project will be purchased from the Latino Literacy Project, a California-based program that trains educators how to teach parents and children who speak English and Spanish how to read. Other activities include parent-child interaction in the classroom, field trips to the library and museums, and English language classes for the parents. Limited enrollment for the English classes will be open to all parents who have children schooled at the center. Free baby-sitting will be provided for some of the activities.In addition, district personnel will have workshops to help parents develop parenting skills, such as establishing routines and setting disciplinary rules. A similar project implemented at Hector P. Garcia Elementary School in Grand Prairie was successful, said assistant principal Mary Gibson. The school received a $24,406 grant through the same foundation program in 2002. Mrs. Gibson, who co-wrote the project proposal, said parents were eager to help their children. Many said they wanted to help their children but didn't know how, she said. "We had a good turnout each time we had a class," said Mrs. Gibson. Ms. Mitchell hopes her program will not just benefit students, but parents, too. According to the grant proposal, Ms. Mitchell and her colleagues expect 50 percent of the parents who participate to become more involved in their children's education.For more information on the activities, classes and schedules, call Ms. Mitchell at 972-406-9459. E-mail mmhidalgo@dallasnews.com Published September 10, 2004, p. 10, Second Edition, The Dallas Morning News. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS.
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