With 65% of fourth grades reading at or below the basic reading
level, and 1/3 of new kindergarteners lacking the skills needed to
learn to read, Gold Award Girl Scout Ann Grabowski recognized that our
country faces a literacy crisis. Her own community’s school falls
short of the district’s 85% pass rate on standardized reading test
scores.
Studies show that parental involvement is the
biggest roadblock to a child’s success in school, so Ann created
“Explorer Packs,” a fun and engaging tool to help parents and children
to work together to grow their enthusiasm for reading, and to
cultivate their literacy skills.
Housed at the Martha
Sawyer Library, Explorer Packs are full of science-based explorations,
easy, fun activities and books that families can check out, take home,
and explore together. By introducing STEM-based subjects and
supporting activities, Ann believes the packs will help promote
literacy to reluctant readers in a fun way, increasing their
enthusiasm for books.
Collaborating with the Lebanon
Community Learning Center, Ann held an open house at the library to
showcase the Explorer Packs, and introduced her projects to over 40
students from an after-school program.
The Explorer Packs
are cataloged and will routinely inspected and maintained by the
library. The library will also feature a “Family Scientists” Bulletin
Board, where families can post pictures of their explorations, as well
as share their experiences in a logbook of each of the packs.
Already Ann has seen the Explorer Packs at work, sparking
children’s interest in literacy, as well as the excitement of the
families who get to share that experience with them. She hopes that,
in the long-term, the school’s district will see an improvement in
test results because of her project.
Ann says she learned
a lot from her project, from overcoming obstacles to learning how to
work with others. But most of all, she says she has discovered how
wonderful it is to feel for people in the community, to see the world
from their perspective, to understand a problem and work hard to make
lives better.
Ann Grabowsi, of North Berwick, earns 2018 Gold Award
21 Jun 2018
