ST. LOUIS — Saint Louis Public Schools has officially launched its new 'Literacy for the Lou' program. The goal, not only to improve literacy among St. Louis' children, but also, get kids excited about reading!
The event too place at the St. Louis Public Library's downtown branch Saturday.
George Sells, SLPS Director of Communication, said that was all thanks to a city-wide effort in full swing.
Related story: Saturday's launch event
"It's going to be the largest reading initiative in the history of the city of St. Louis, as far as we're concerned," he said.
Sells said the program launched by SLPS is an all-encompassing effort to increase and improve literacy among all children in St. Louis.
"A big part of getting kids reading is giving them books that they want to read, books that are identifiable, books that have characters that look like them, that are culturally relevant to them," he said.
There were more than just thousands of books handed out. According to Sells, the district wanted to make sure families were sent home with tools to encourage reading, even when they're not in the classroom.
"Resources for families to know how to teach a little bit, to help those kids really get some mileage out of that time that they're spending reading and help them become better readers," he said.
Through this initiative their dream is to change kids view on reading completely and bring smiles and confidence to St. Louis children's faces everywhere.
"It's not supposed to be a chore. It's not supposed to be something they've got to do. We want it to be something they love to do," Sells said.
With that shift in momentum, Sells said, the district believes 'Literacy for the Lou' will be the starting of something new.
"This is a really exciting time for the city and something that I think we'll look back on in 20 years and say this was a starting step to really grow reading, grow the schools and grow the city of St. Louis, because literacy and success of our population and success of our city are all tied together," he said.