Literacy Program Aims To Connect With New Sartell Families

SARTELL (WJON News) -- Families in the Sartell area with a child celebrating their first birthday this winter and spring can look forward to an extra gift. The Sartell-St. Stephen School District is launching a new literacy outreach program to connect families to reading and the district prior to them enrolling in pre-school or kindergarten.

What kids are eligible for the program?

Families with a child turning one year old will receive a postcard from the district and can then bring it into Oak Ridge Early Learning Center to get a free book. Principal Julia Bjerke says the literacy outreach is a one-year program right now, but it could continue:

"I think it's something we will revisit this summer after we've been able to gauge how well this went in the community. For us, it's really about making that point of contact with families, so if it's a wonderful way for us to build that partnership early on, then we want to continue looking for other opportunities to fund this moving forward."

Bjerke says they received a $3,000 grant from the Morning Optimist Club to fund the program for this year.

What types of books do they have?

Early Childhood Program Coordinator Julie Thom says they have a wide array of books for parents to pick from:

"We have a variety of books that are geared towards younger children. Many of them are board books, some are classic/well-known stories, some of them are maybe new things that you wouldn't necessarily already have in your library at home for your young child, and we do have some other books that are paperback but definitely story-read-aloud type books."

Thom says they are keeping the specific titles as a surprise, but parents will definitely be able to find one to enjoy with their child. Families with an eligible child should start looking for the postcard in early February.

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