The overall A.P.P.L.E. literacy program is a combined effort of Marissa R. and Serina Lee, co-founders.  Within the program, two specific age groups of youth were selected. Of these two groups, each founder focused additional efforts on their selected age group.  Serina Lee is focused on Children 12 and Under. Thus, the CLIMB program became the focus of Serina Lee along with the parts of A.P.P.L.E. that target children. Overall A.P.P.L.E. works because both age groups of children work together and complement each other.

 Focusing on Children's Reading Needs

      and Motivating Children to Read for Success

C.L.I.M.B. is an acronym for Creative Literacy in Motivating Book reading and is  

designed to focus on specifically encouraging children age 12 and under to read. 
 

C.L.I.M.B. involves any creative idea that motivates and encourages younger children to read.  I believe if you can “hook” a child on reading at a young age, they will read for a lifetime. Reading should never be thought of as dull or unexciting.  C.L.I.M.B. is interested in fostering the gift of a lifetime of reading, illustrating how exciting reading can be.

This program involves sevearl different programs. Some of the program's components are explained here. If you are involved with motivating younger children to read, contact me, I would like to hear what is working for you and I will share new components we are developing.

One part of our overview program (APPLE) is the idea of "Adopt-a-Box." This is a large part of getting children passionate about reading because they will have access to free books that do not require check out policies or late fees.   Children can be encouraged through presentations to classrooms and letters home to parents to bring books to for a free exchange book box set up in local places and in schools. The concept is called, "Take-a-Book, Leave-a-Book" and I ask that you make this opportunity available in your community.  With free exchange book locations, children can take a free book from the box and read it. This way, books that are no longer being read, that are sitting in a closet or shelf, can be given new life and share their “endless adventures” with other children through a free exchange. 

A classroom or librarian can "Adopt-a-Box" and manage it, seeing to it that books be exchanged. One school in our community did this free book exchange as a one night family affair and children brought in their old books, that they did not want any more and placed them on tables in the common's area.  Everyone did this and were then given ticket stubs for each book they brought. That entitled them to going and selecting from other books the number of books for which they had ticket stubs. Thousands of books can be exchanged in a single night and children will be excited about reading the new books they receive. 

Reward systems can be placed on the process, such as certificates, prizes, or other fun games earned to be played the next time a teen mentor can check in on the class or group that is utilizing the exchange box.   (See more about incentives after this next section). 

Teens Mentoring Younger Children with Reading   

  There are many ways in which older youth can encourage younger children to read. 

Some examples include:
Making special time with children to read together and do fun activities that include reading and also something else, like art....or games that incorporate fun ways to learn vocabulary --then they don't think they are simply in school...Make It Fun and Creative!

Volunteer time to read to younger children through the public library in your community. Most libraries have toddler and younger children reading times. Approach administrators and inquire if they could use tutors or narrators to read to younger children.

• Volunteer reading to elementary classes within your school district  (If you happen to attend a school campus that has a wide age group of youth, this is usually possible if you discuss with teachers and school officials.  If your school grades/campuses are separate, special time may need to be asked to be taken away, so to attend the classrooms at elementary schools.) 

• The Teen Reading and Writing Club can invite a group of younger children to one of their meetings.

• Older teens/Girl Scouts can check with their area Girl Scout Membership and Marketing representative and determine when younger scout groups are meeting and then plan activities with them and read to them.

• Check into “After School Programs” that might be going on at the school or at other locations such as recreation center, Big Sister/Big Brother programs, YMCA, etc. Any place where younger children are doing things during a time frame that teens could volunteer their time to read.  Being a role model can be incredibly inspirational to younger children.   

• When working with younger children, here are some ideas for teen to do with  groups of younger children and also individual younger children that will help encourage reading and better reading skills:
  • Come prepared to do some activity with them, along with reading. Find an exciting book and create art from it or play a game with different vocabulary words from the book.
  • Come prepared to talk about the latest movies that have been made from books. Discuss the movies, then bring excerpts from the books. Illustrate how much more to all the scenes and characters can be learned from reading.  Illustrate through examples how “fun” it is to know “more” of the story.
  • Also, bring age appropriate books to share. Read from the books dramatic parts and ask children play along with the scenes and discuss. Make it “high energy” and motivate participation.
  • If it is possible to regularly meet with a group of children, develop a reading list for the children that you let them know you want to know about what they thought of certain books the next time you return.   When you return have prizes and special treats.

• If you can bring an author with you to a presentation to younger children, have them participate in asking questions and inspiring the children to read the books by the author.

• Some children will have problems with reading because of learning disabilities. Some children will not be able to distinguish letters and numbers.   There are many fun games/puzzles that can be printed from on-line sources that can be done with the children.

• Activities such as dice games, where the dice are special dice with numbers or letters on them, can be rolled and children call out the letters.  Oversize handmade (stuffed – material) dice can be fun. It does not’t matter how the dice roll, because young children learn to recognize the shape, not so much what is right side up or upside down. Numerals can also be placed on the over sized dice.  The “7” will be a “7” regardless of which side it is looked at. Children learn the number and don’t rely on up or down. 
  • Other activities can involve bouncing balls.   Adding balls and the complexity of the bouncing / juggling can help the brain to process more tasks at one time and work both sides of the brain  (automaticity). This is known to help improve reading.
  • Working with the Special Needs teachers at schools can be very useful because often the older youth can present the material intended for the child in need and child will respond more favorably and quickly because they will see the older youth as a motivator and role model

• Overall, work with Elementary School officials and teacher and determine if you can volunteer to work with them.

 Incentive programs are wonderful tools to motivate. Check into different incentive reading programs in place at targeted elementary schools or after school programs.

Example programs that may be in place or you can help introduce include:

·         Pizza Hut – Book It Program

http://www.bookitprogram.com/

This is a program for K-6 and rewards children with incentive coupons for free pizzas. Each school has to sign up for the program. You may be able to help a school with their program or, if they do not have one, help it get organized. The website explains more.

Here is an overview from the website. It is worth including here, because it can be a tool used to motivate youth.

About BOOK IT!
BOOK IT! motivates children to read by rewarding their reading accomplishments with praise, recognition and pizza.  BOOK IT! is simple for the teacher to use, flexible because goals match reading ability, and fun because achieving a goal is a great reason to celebrate. BOOK IT! was created in 1985 and currently reaches over 10 million students annually.

Simple
BOOK IT! runs every school year from October through March.  The teacher sets a reading goal for each child in the class.  A tracking chart and reproducibles are included to make it that much easier.  As soon as a child meets the monthly reading goal, the teacher gives him or her a Reading Award Certificate. 

Flexible
BOOK IT! goals are based on reading ability.  Number of books, number of pages, or number of minutes – they all work.  BOOK IT! can also be used with the reading curriculum or as support for comprehension or intervention programs.  For children not reading independently, the goal can be set where a parent or others read to the child

If “Book-It” is already in place or even if it is not, you may want to create your own incentive program for a younger group of children.

 For example, “Special Treat” incentive -- approach managers of local restaurants and encourage them to donate gift certificates or coupons for treats. An example would be to approach a quick-service restaurant    manager/owner and inquire about ice cream cone coupons. The manager/owner may be more than willing to donate them to promoting literacy if you show them your plan for rewarding younger children to read. It may also directly benefit the business because parents will most likely buy additional items when their child redeems the coupon.  Be clear of your plan and how you plan to implement, most likely with the aid of a librarian, school counselor or teacher.