Lynn parents, children hone their reading skills in kindergarten

LYNN – When the Connery Families Learn Together Family Literacy Program was put into place, the goal was for parents to increase their own literacy through adult education classes and to take a larger interest in the education of their children.Parents from the program, held at the school in partnership with Operation Bootstrap, showed the progress they have made in both of those categories earlier this month when they made a short walk from their adult education class in the school’s computer room to a kindergarten classroom where they read to students.In preparation of their volunteer reading, the parents practiced reading Eric Carle’s “Today is Monday” in class. They also helped to prepare a literacy activity to do with the children after they had read the book.The activity included sorting the days of the week, the food and the animals in the story.”It was hard to tell who was more nervous or excited, the children or the adults,” said Roberta Robers of Operation Bootstrap. “But after spending about a half an hour together, both seemed to be happy with the experience.”As a gift, the children were given a copy of the book and activity to take home.In the Connery program, parents attend ESOL classes and parenting classes two mornings a week. In addition, families are invited to join the literacy teachers in the school library one afternoon a week for snacks, bingo, a book, and a related literacy activity.Between 15 and 25 parents and children usually attend the activity. Once a month, a bilingual home visitor goes to the home of each family to read a book, do an activity, and give the book to the family.In this way, families begin to build up a collection of quality children’s books.The Connery Families Learn Together Family Literacy Program is a collaboration of Operation Bootstrap and the Lynn School System.This year, the Connery Program received 2008 Barbara Bush Foundation grant.The Foundation funds programs that provide family literacy instruction for parents as well as children. Since its inception in 1989, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has awarded more than $30 million to more than 700 family literacy programs in the country.The ESOL program at Connery School has become a model for Operation Bootstrap as it attempts to open similar programs across the city to help reduce its long wait-list of parents hoping to begin learning English, and encourage families to take an active roll in their children’s education.In March, Operation Bootstrap kicked off a conversational English course for parents at the Ingalls Elementary School, which the organization hopes to expand to include more courses like the one at Connery.