School District 197 Gains Grant to Add Literacy Tutors

Weather was the subject at hand for the seven young learners who gathered around school readiness preschool teacher Sharon Furth at Moreland Academy Wednesday.

Next year, thanks to a new grant, there will be more teachers like Furth and more young students learning.

The District 197 Early Learning Program has been awarded an expansion grant for Moreland Community Preschool and the ECFE Building Bridges Family Literacy program for the 2011-12 program year.

As a result of this initiative, the Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC) will be recruiting two part-time literacy tutors to provide extra support to help preschool children build important foundational literacy skills.

The goal of the program is to “increase literacy skills so children read by end of third grade,” said Furth, who has been a school readiness preschool teacher in the district for 14 years and in the Minnesota Reading Corps for two years.

The district is adding three new literacy tutors, said Joyce Beaird, early learning coordinator for the school district. Called "community corps members," one will be placed in the school readiness preschool at Moreland and the other two will be placed in the ECFE Building Bridges family literacy program.

MRC tutors are AmeriCorps members who may be recent college graduates, retirees, or mid-career or stay-at-home parents. In addition to helping kids 3- to 8-years-old learn how to read, MRC tutors receive an education award to pay for school or student loans, receive a modest living allowance and receive training in instruction methods.

For more information about early learning programs, or to receive a catalog, call Aleshia Leivermann at 651-403-8353.