A Taste of Normalcy—Sort of

Big Kid Book Club

Program provides free reading materials for students By Dr. Curtis Finch, Deer Valley Unified School District Superintendent

Reading is the key to success in school, period. The research on reading states students below grade level by third grade will become exponentially behind over time without a significant reading intervention. In other words, the reading gap will only widen.

Parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and grandparents who read to their younger children/siblings/grandkids before kindergarten give them a big advantage over their peers. The goal is to develop children’s own love for reading so eventually they will read to themselves. It is a fact that children love to receive free books in the mail. Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD) combined these two ideas to form the Big Kid Book Club three years ago; today’s book club has accumulated over 1,600 members and continues to grow every month.

Any child who is between the ages of 3 and 5 and not yet enrolled in kindergarten may apply for the program and receive free, exciting and colorful new books from DVUSD throughout the school year. DVUSD will send parent tips to help keep students on the path of learning and social/emotional growth. Parents will also learn about interventions and resources for assistance. The premise of the program is to help children begin to develop a love for reading. We also know this love is more likely to happen when it is modeled for them, and especially when that person is a family member. Something also happens when a child gets a package addressed to them in the mailbox and it is a new book! The love for reading begins.

The Big Kid Book Club provides parents information regarding the 39 schools in the DVUSD system, its curriculum-specific and award-winning programs, and the many academic and athletic successes of DVUSD students and staff. To learn more about the Deer Valley Unified School District, visit dvsud.org. The website includes access to hundreds of resources for parents, connections to campuses, and lists of awards and accomplishments.

If parents wish to enroll their child in the Big Kid Book Club, it can be found on the district website at dvsud.org/ bookclub. Maricopa Countyeligible students are not required to live within the 364 square miles of the DVUSD boundaries. Excitement to receive free books in the mail is the only requirement. The Big Kid Book Club webbased form takes approx i mately 2 minutes to fill out, and the next step is to watch out the window for the mail delivery truck! Ready? Set? Read!

Dr. Curtis Finch is the superintendent of Deer Valley Unified School District and can be followed on Twitter at DrFinchDVUSD.