(BINGHAMTON, NY) - A new reading initiative for students within the Binghamton City School District is helping to unlock imagination and cultivate a lifelong love for reading. BCSD is the first school district in the Southern Tier to become a “branch” of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL). Children who are four years-old or younger and currently registered with the BCSD Pre-Kindergarten and/or PACT (an in-home program for children who are not yet school-aged) programs receive a FREE book in the mail every month.
All children within these BCSD programs automatically receive an age-appropriate book each month, unless they otherwise opt out. Pre-K teachers and PACT educators also incorporate the monthly books into their lessons. Reading to children from birth stimulates their mind, develops language skills, and lays a foundation for reading success. Children who are read to once a day hear nearly 300 thousand words by the time they begin kindergarten. Additionally, the number of books in the home directly correlates with higher reading scores for children. Kids who are read to at least three times a week are twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading.
The DPIL program is supported in the Binghamton City School District through the Katie Titus Early Literacy Fund which was established to support literacy initiatives throughout Broome County. The fund, which is managed by the Community Foundation of South Central New York, honors the memory of Binghamton High School junior Katie Titus who passed away in an automobile accident in 1996.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was launched in 1995 to foster an early love of reading and learning in the country music legend’s hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee. Since then, it has grown to share reading with children in 21 states and five different countries. To date nearly a quarter billion books have been gifted to kids across the nation and around the world.