Shanice, a young mother, enrolled in Save the Children’s Early Steps to School Success Program when she was five months pregnant and immediately began reading to her unborn baby. She soaked up information about child development, ready and willing to do whatever she could so her child could learn about ‘everything all the time!’ Since bringing her baby girl, Aliya, into the world, Shanice reads the “Raising a Reader” books to her almost every night and delights in her every accomplishment. Thank you MSAF, Katie and John for providing Shanice the support she needs to promote early learning and help her daughter develop and grow.

Thank you for helping ensure that Matthew has a fair chance at a brighter future. Matthew’s teenage mother signed him up for Early Steps to School Success in Jackson, Kentucky when he was six months old. Both Matthew’s and his parent’s skills have developed since then — the program has made Matthew’s parents dedicated to providing him with a strong foundation for learning. Both parents participate in the visits and they have set a consistent reading schedule. As young parents, they are inexperienced but they are learning and excited about the challenges before them. Matthew’s mom, Charlene said, “Because of this program, I know the importance of playing with my child, and the cues to look for.” ESSS is a resource for families like Matthew’s to develop a strong foundation for learning in their children. Thank you MSAF, Alyce and Victor for your kindness.

Thank you for helping ensure that disadvantaged families in the remote and isolated community of Baker, California have the opportunities and services needed to prepare their children for school. In Baker, there are a total of nine families and eleven children enrolled in the Early Steps to School Success Enhanced Parent-Child Group. The group meets twice a month, and activities are focused on language and pre-literacy development that promote parent-child interaction. At the end of the class, all families receive a book bag with three to four culturally and developmentally appropriate books, an activity sheet, and a calendar to track how often the parents are reading with their child.

Taira, a young single parent, was skeptical about Save the Children’s Early Steps to School Success Program when she enrolled her newborn daughter, Crystal. During one particular visit, it was time for the ESSS coordinator to give Taira a new bag of books. When Taira opened the book bag, Crystal began to say “Moo-Moo” because she wanted to find the book she had the week before, which had a cow in it. Taira was shocked that Crystal had been paying attention when she was read to, even though she was only four months old. Crystal is 18 months old now and can say many words. She can point to her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth and hair when asked to do so. She sits quietly and listens to stories being read to her. Taira now reads to Crystal every day and understands that, as a parent, she is her child’s most important teacher. Thank you, Tom for helping to build Crystal’s literacy skills and equipping Taira with the skills and knowledge to successfully support her child’s growth!

Thank you for helping Joseph grow and develop at an appropriate rate for his age. Although Joseph’s family struggles financially, he was lucky to be born to very supportive parents. Alba, Joseph’s mother, was delighted to be one of the first families enrolled in Save the Children’s new Early Steps to School Success Program in Colorado. Alba has been motivated from the beginning and participates in all of the activities, especially the peek-a-boo activity. Alba looks forward to the home visits of the ESSS coordinator because it brings consistency to her home life and helps keep her focused on educating her children. Now, at four months, Joseph is able to focus his vision and is grasping the peek-a-boo book, a favorite. His fine motor skills are exactly at the stage they should be for a child his age!

Keith, MSAF and Janet, your generosity will provide Alba and Joseph vital support.

Like many children from struggling, low-income families, Luis was developmentally delayed when he entered the Early Steps to School Success program as a two year old. Luis’s mom, Josie, was very interested in the program and wanted to learn how to better support her son’s development. Since joining the program, Josie has been working very hard with the program coordinator, Sandra, to catch Luis up developmentally. Every time Sandra goes to the home, Josie shares stories and tells her all of the new things Luis is doing. Josie is even back in school and working on getting her degree. She is very happy to be back in school and says that because of Save the Children’s ESSS program, she has learned how important it is to have an education and keep her children involved in learning. She is trying to create a different life for her children and she knows her education is the beginning of it. Thank you all for bringing Josie and Luis hope for the future!

Union, South Carolina is a town with a staggeringly high unemployment rate, high teen pregnancy rate and more and more children under age six living in poverty. Candace, a single mother, and her three young children, Patience, Neveah and Ethan, are enrolled in Save the Children’s Early Steps to School Success program and are visited four times a month by an early children development coordinator. During these visits, the coordinator reads books and suggests developmentally appropriate activities and toys for Candace and her children to explore together. Playing pretend is one of their favorite things. “We might take the stuffed animals and pretend we are at the zoo,” Candace shares. “It’s when they play that they learn the best.”

Of her three children, Neveah appears to be the most extroverted and at ease, for which her mother credits Save the Children. “Starting really early with the program and the frequent home visits have helped Neveah with her social skills.”

Thanks to your support, MSAF, Denise, Tony and Steven, Candace has created a positive learning environment at home for her three children.

Jazmine lives with her parents and two younger siblings in Queets, a remote Native American village on the northwest coast of Washington State. Over the course of Jazmine’s two-year participation in Save the Children’s Early Steps to School Success program, the withdrawn toddler, once unwilling to interact with others, has blossomed into a four-year-old social butterfly who smothers her two younger siblings with affection. As a result of the program — which is designed to assist children with language, social, and emotional development and equip parents with the skills and knowledge to successfully support their child’s growth — Jazmine’s conversational skills and cognitive abilities are equivalent to those of a much older child.

Thank you Tom and MSAF for helping provide families like Jazmine’s with the age-appropriate reading materials, activities and learning tools they need. Jazmine’s brothers, two-year-old Adam and five-month-old Hunter, are now also enrolled in the Early Steps program and are already showing progress.

Tracy was never read to as a child and never thought about reading to her children until she was enrolled in the Early Steps to School Success program. At the time she was enrolled, Tracy had a two-year-old daughter, Nicole, and was four months pregnant with her son, Cayden. Cayden is now 11 months old and Tracy reads to him every day. Tracy said that she didn’t realize how important it was to read to her children before being enrolled in the ESSS program. She finds reading time enjoyable and beneficial to her children. She has realized how much faster Cayden’s language development has been since establishing reading time and is proud of how much both her children have learned. Thank you for helping Tracy put her children on the path to literacy!

With the nearest library a 30 minute drive away, Save the Children’s Raising a Reader book bag exchange program provides the children in Queets, Washington with age-appropriate books that they otherwise would not be able to access. Children take these books home for two weeks and then receive a new batch of books. Save the Children’s Program Coordinator, Tracie, operates the book bag exchange at the Queets Head Start classroom, which houses 22 children ages 3 to 5. She also visits the school weekly for read-aloud sessions with the children.

Over the past three years, Save the Children has partnered with the Quinault Nation Head Start and the Lake Quinault School District in Washington State to offer early language and literacy services through the Early Steps to School Success Program. The two-part program also includes a home visiting component to help families give their children, from newborns to three-year-olds, an early start on development. That’s why many of the kids in the Queets Head Start classroom have known Kenney, who has worked with them and/or their siblings, from birth.

Thank you all for providing kids like Flora and Alina, seen here interacting with a book in a Head Start classroom, with the materials and services needed to become successful readers!