Community Spotlight: FLASH Program at Owens Primary School

This Month’s Recipient Group:

Families Learning At School and Home (FLASH) Program at Owens Primary School. The program’s mission is to engaged parents in learning along with their child to build literacy in the home. Since the programs inception in 2003, hundreds of parents have attended a 20-minute workshop each month with their kindergartner to review letter names, sounds, literacy skills, vocabulary, poems and stories that students will be focusing on in the classroom. This program provides take home kits, book/CD sets, videos, DVDs and learning games to families for home use. Throughout the project years, parental attendance at monthly class meetings continues to average 90%.

How long have you been a First Book Recipient Group?

Since 2005

How many children do you serve and what are their age ranges?

Approximately 150 kindergarteners, ages 4 and 5

How many books have you received from First Book since you registered?

Over 1,000 new books!

Tell us about a recent event you have held to promote reading.

First Book partnered with the Bakersfield dd’s DISCOUNTS customers to provide 150 kindergarteners with 6 books each. Manager Grace Prendez of the Bakersfield store, the guest reader for Mrs. Victor’s kindergarten class, read two books to her captive audience and promised that a big truck was bringing them an extra surprise later that morning: stuffed dinosaurs of the dd’s DISCOUNTS mascot Dino!

Quotes from students, teachers, parents:

“This award from dd’s DISCOUNTS and First Book provides our families with books to treasure, read and keep at home. We know that our students need books and yearn for books to own, not just to borrow”.

“Teachers and families are very grateful for this opportunity to own books. They look forward to inviting guest readers to read and distribute the books to our young students throughout the rest of the school year.” – Mrs. Joyce Victor, Kindergarten Teacher