Moran Public Library and Savonburg Public Library received dozens of new books as part of an $850,000 literacy project
The libraries each received nearly 200 new books valued at $1,500 for children from birth to age 5 as part of a regional literacy project funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
A consortium of 13 rural Kansas school districts received the grant, which funds efforts to improve literacy through innovative approaches. The grant also included funding to provide books to 15 libraries serving these districts.
The consortium’s Innovative Approaches to Literacy program includes several services that will directly benefit children in each district, such as Study Island, an interactive Web-based service that aims to make learning fun and engaging; Parents as Teachers, a program in which experts visit parents of young children in the home and help them become their children’s first teachers; and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a service that sends free books to pre-school age children. Parents can register for books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at their local library.
“These programs are research-based and studies show they really are effective in helping young learners gain those literacy skills they’re going to need for the rest of their lives,” said Bert Moore, superintendent of West Elk USD 282 and project director for the grant.
West Elk USD 282 will serve as fiscal manager for the grant, which was written by the Grants and Evaluation Department at the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center — Greenbush in partnership with the consortium of 13 districts. The consortium received the only Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant awarded in Kansas.
Districts participating in the project include Moran and Savonburg.
For more information, contact Bert Moore at (620) 374-2113 or [email protected].
Grant buys books for area libraries
