Daimar Simmons sat as still and quiet as a 5-year-old can, his attention focused on the table piled with board games, one of which was going home with him.
Daimar was in the library at Benjamin Franklin School while his mother, Stephanie, attended the first of three parent workshops hosted by the Harrisburg School District teaching parents how to help their children learn to read.
“We want our parents to be a partner in educating their children,” said Stacey Cherny, the district’s elementary curriculum coordinator.
The school district created the Kindergarten Literacy Academy with a $50,000 grant from PinnacleHealth System. The grant also paid for the board games, which Daimar couldn’t take his eyes off.
In return, parents agree to have teachers visit their homes to go over test scores, volunteer at school and participate in the schools’ Parent Teacher Association.
There are 28 kindergarten classrooms, each with 20 students, participating in the Kindergarten Literacy Academy.
Cherny said that in kindergarten children learn from a broad base to a progressively smaller base; first in sentences, then by words, to the syllables in a word, the beginning sound of a word, then individual sounds in a word.
In first grade, children learn using phonics, the sound a specific letter makes.
“[Some children] may not be hearing those middle vowels and when they hit first grade, phonics will be really hard for them.
“Language development is directly correlated to reading ability,” Cherny said, and the lessons the parents learned at the workshop was the same professional development material the teachers received.
Alicia Becknauld has three children in the school district; one in kindergarten, one in first grade and a daughter in third grade.
“She went to preschool and full-day kindergarten,” Becknauld said. “But she struggles. I can see my son in kindergarten now is farther ahead than when she was in. It’s astounding.”
The second and third parents’ workshop will be held in the spring. They will focus on reading aloud to children, developing vocabulary and making reading more engaging.
In addition to what’s happening in the homes, the school district has established “WIN” time in the schools, Cherny said.
“It’s 30 to 45 minutes daily of ‘what I need’,¤” she said. “The school has assessed every student and during that WIN time, will use that time to focus on what each child needs help with.”
“I think it’s great,” Simmons said. “The teachers are doing a wonderful job.”
The 2011-12 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests results indicated that Harrisburg School District was one of the lowest-performing in the state; only 35 percent of students were performing at grade-level in reading and 37 percent were forming at grade-level in math.
Cherny said the district will follow these kindergartners up to the third grade, the first year for PSSA testing, when they will compare their test scores to those of students who did not participate in the Kindergarten Literacy Academy.
“Our effort is to increase early literacy skills so when they hit the third grade, they have a strong foundation,” she said. “Parental involvement is extremely important.
“Our students come in and are making tremendous growth.”