Giving Back for the Holidays

Happy Holidays!  With Christmas right around the corner, and New Year’s right behind, I thought I’d dedicate the last post of 2018 on Teach Grow Love with a little ‘good for the soul’ post about giving back, and showcase a children’s charity I have been working with for over a year.  

As a kindergarten teacher, ensuring every child had access to quality early childhood education, and in particular, early literacy is a cause near and dear to my heart.  I am so amazed at how much a child’s world opens up when they begin to read and write, and in so many places in the world, literacy can literally change the direction of a child’s future.  

Last year, I partnered up with NEST USA, a non-profit organization that has created a project called Word Scientists which provides FREE foundational literacy resources to early childhood educators and young children. Using technology (on the user end, it’s as simple as access to the internet, a computer, and printer), early childhood educators can print basic leveled texts, read alouds and teacher guides to teach early literacy in the classroom all over the world. We have a team of volunteers that create all of the resources from start to finish, and it really is a project that I am so proud to be a part of! One of the features of our books that I really love is that the characters in each story reflect the diversity of the children and early childhood educators that use the resources. This is so important as it allows young children to see characters just like them in the stories they read.

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So far, Word Scientists is actively used by several schools in Nepal, refugee camps in Syria, as well as schools in Africa and India  In addition to creating resources, each month we provide long-distance learning sessions about foundational literacy practices to early childhood educators who are using our resources.  It is amazing to connect with so many teachers from around the world eager to develop their practice and bring their learning back to the classroom.

Word Scientists operates by donation and literally, thousands of volunteer hours – so it really is a labour of love. We track and measure literacy learning in the schools that our resources, and it is so amazing to see the growth in the children’s literacy skills!

I wanted to share some of the behind the scenes of Teach Grow Love, because giving back and paying it forward are truly two values that are the cornerstones of this little blog!  I dedicate several hours a week to helping Word Scientists develop books and content for our learning sessions, social media strategies, and fundraising.  It continues to be an extremely rewarding part of my everyday life.

If you are interested in learning more about Word Scientists, donating to the charity, or know of any schools, early childhood educators, and families with young children that may benefit from having access to free early literacy resources, you can learn more at https://www.wordscientists.org

Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season, 

xx Kamini