Program of the Month Award

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation's oldest and largest children and families' literacy nonprofit organization, has named John E. Ford Elementary School as one if its three Programs of the Month award recipients for October 2009.

"John E. Ford Elementary School has done a phenomenal job at inspiring young children to enjoy reading," said Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of RIF. "It has been proven that those who engage in reading at a young age will be more successful in school. RIF is proud to honor this program for the work they have done on behalf of the children throughout the Jacksonville region.”

John E. Ford Elementary School
For the last 18 years, this program has brought the joy of reading and book ownership into the lives of their students and a sense of real "community" to all in the Jacksonville region. In mid April, when many of the children from more northerly climes are still wearing coats at recess, the children of John E. Ford K-8, are enjoying their annual RIF “Booknic” distribution.

Kelli Heath is an extremely dedicated Account Coordinator and constantly strives to make book distributions memorable and engaging. Heath and her staff do a great job of getting parents, staff, and other community members involved; over the period of the three book distributions per year, they have more than 400 volunteers total on hand to help with the distributions. The volunteers range from high school students to committed parents and caregivers to community leaders. And for parents who are unable to attend a distribution, there is often a book trivia contest sent home for parents and children to enjoy together, again bringing parental participation into the book distribution experience.

RIF's Programs of the Month initiative was launched to honor the ongoing efforts of local programs to fulfill the mission of RIF, which depends on programs like these to promote children's literacy. Thanks to thousands of volunteers, children all across the country are discovering the joy of reading. The other programs honored by RIF in October were Southwest Human Development (Phoenix, AZ) and RIF in Chicago (Chicago, IL).

About RIF
Reading Is Fundamental, Inc.(RIF), founded in 1966, motivates children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life. RIF's highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books and literacy resources each year. For more information and to access reading resources, visit RIF's website at www.rif.org .

where are all these kids that do the reading? almost every kid you talk to is talking in Ebonics! get real! this new society of kids are total illiterates!

icwjohn wrote:

where are all these kids that do the reading? almost every kid you talk to is talking in Ebonics! get real! this new society of kids are total illiterates!

not only do they talk ebonics they write it to. Nothing worse to me than a white person trying to speak as the blacks do. Am I a racist? to a degree. I know a very sweet, heart filling, black man. Better than some of the white scum.

icwjohn wrote:

where are all these kids that do the reading?

They're reading books in prison.....

icwjohn wrote:

where are all these kids that do the reading? almost every kid you talk to is talking in Ebonics! get real! this new society of kids are total illiterates!

John, children are reading with the help of teachers, some parents and volunteers. It's the adults that are failing children in some sort of way. Most children come start their early education very eager to learn but without the basics of proper nutrition, parental guidance and even something as basic as a safe home environment they start to lose interest. This is why the problems with our youth are surfacing more and more such as the crime.

I have said it before and I maintain less education equals more crime.

the saddest thing is there shouldnt be a need for these types of programs.....if parents would start taking an interest in their childs education from the very start, then our children would be much better off...just like there was an article on a program to encourage parents to get involved in their kids education..umm, shouldnt that be a given!

scott1 wrote:

the saddest thing is there shouldnt be a need for these types of programs.....if parents would start taking an interest in their childs education from the very start, then our children would be much better off...just like there was an article on a program to encourage parents to get involved in their kids education..umm, shouldnt that be a given!

Parents and grandparents that can't read are not going to be big on their kids reading at home.