THIRD-GRADE LITERACY PROGRAM
According to the Institute of Education Sciences, third-grade Black and Latinx students who live in low-income communities and who do not have proficient reading skills are 31% and 33% more likely to drop out or fail to finish high school. SitStayRead prioritizes working with schools, classrooms and students in communities experiencing these risks.
The Poetry Pals program runs for six consecutive weeks, with a SitStayRead Program Leader, three Book Buddies, and three Dog Teams visiting the classroom once a week for an hour each time.
During each visit, Book Buddies lead small-group reading activities, comprehension discussions about poems, independent book writing, and one-on-one time with Dog Teams.
Like all SitStayRead curricula, our third-grade literacy program contains five core elements: read-aloud, discussion, writing, social-emotional learning, and developing the animal-human bond. Learn more about our curriculum.
By third grade, students begin reading for the purpose of learning rather than learning to read. Students who don’t have a solid reading foundation are often left behind.
Our Poetry Pals literacy program for third graders focuses on improving reading comprehension and building personal written expression and agnecy with language.
We partner with schools and community-based organizations where the student population is at least 90% low-income and 60% of third-grade students score below the national reading average. If you’re interested in our literacy program for first graders, please complete our partnership interest form.