Thousands of children visit Pajama Program Reading Centers each year to spend valuable one on one time reading stories with our volunteers and staff. Children from Head Start programs, shelters, foster care agencies and Title I schools (receiving free lunch) visit in groups of 5-25 to read either 1:1 or in small groups. After participating in circle time introductions, children spend 45 minutes reading with an adult “reading buddy” and are given a snack. At the conclusion of each reading party, children select a book of their choice to take with them and are each presented with a new pair of pajamas specially wrapped and labeled with their name to applaud and encourage their participation in the reading.

Author Time is a special reading party where we invite authors to come and read their books to the children followed by a Q & A. After the read aloud with the author, children read one on one with their reading buddies and are given a snack. Children receive a copy of the book shared by the author and also select another book of their choosing to take with them before each being presented with a new pair of pajamas.

This program provides staff development to selected teachers of kindergarten and first grade in their home school in order to support them in best practices for developing readers. Areas of focus include using text to support thinking, vocabulary and concepts presented in thematic units. Each class visits the reading center four times to read one on one with volunteers to reinforce skills and concepts. The program incorporates a pre and post assessment to measure growth in skills and concepts.

This school outreach program is focused on developing print concepts in Pre-K emerging readers. Many of the children come from immigrant families where their first language is not English and there are no books at home. Children are given a Pre-assessment of print concepts prior to the first session with volunteers. Volunteers visit individual classrooms once a month and read aloud in small groups (2-3 children) to teach and reinforce book handling and print concepts necessary for beginning readers. After 3 months, the children are assessed again to measure their growth as a result of the program.

1 hour session each session.

This is a literacy enrichment and mentoring program for underserved or disadvantaged children. In its pilot year in the spring of 2015, twenty-seven fifth graders were each paired up with a committed volunteer mentor (Reading Buddy Mentor) to encourage them to read, analyze, discuss, and journal about a different book read each month. Students and their mentors also participated in a pen-pal exchange for the 6 months of the duration of the program.

See what the students and their teacher have to say about Reading Buddy Plus!

The goal of the PIM Program for middle and high school students at-risk is to empower them to make positive choices and to gain college/career readiness skills. They learn to communicate more effectively and improve literacy skills through a weekly book group led by adult mentors. The program incorporates journaling, reading aloud, blogging and current events to get the group thinking about life and literary connections.

The girls in our program love to read poetry

Poetry Plus Program encourages young girls, ages 12-16, who have been removed from a family/home environment, to express their feelings through reading and writing poetry. We work with the girls to understand the poet’s intentions to transfer their own feelings into poems of their own. Poetry Plus not only offers girls reading practice with books they enjoy, but the exercises and interactions help them understand their feelings and accept themselves. Sessions end with a gift to each child of a pair of new pajamas and a new book.

Money Matters is designed to introduce underserved teens and pre-teens to financial language, banking, and the flow of money, economic issues and taxes. Each session provides hands on exercises with different occupations and play money salaries that coincide with real life salaries to show the children how far a dollar actually goes in the “real world”. Adult mentors teach the impact an education and/or job training can have on the amount of money earned and the lifestyle that can be enjoyed as a result.