The migrant student population of Chicago Public Schools continues to grow. Reports indicate that up to 9,000 students enrolled in the city’s schools for the 2023-2024 school year. Nearly 100 students signed up for classes in just one Chicago elementary school, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
Many of these new students face the challenge of learning to read and write in English due to their young age and lack of experience with the English language. Add the anxiety of a new home and new school with strangers speaking a foreign language and the whole process can be downright overwhelming for a young child.
SitStayRead, a past Make It Better Philanthropy Award Winner, mobilizes their adorable dogs to team up with Chicago migrant kindergarteners through third-grade students to ease their learning anxieties.
Studies show that simple interactions with dogs decrease children’s cortisol (stress hormone) levels. When stress levels are reduced, students can learn more effectively and feel more comfortable connecting with teachers and peers. Not only do the SitStayRead dogs help to calm students simply by being there, but their training to sit and listen to children read helps establish a safe space for both English as a Second Language and primary English students to read aloud without judgement.
When working in schools with migrant students, SitStayRead teams share stories in Spanish and English. Research and the emerging science of reading conclude that instruction that supports and celebrates the language spoken at home for the youngest learners is one of the best predictors of staying on pace to meet later academic milestones. SitStayRead is committed to evolving as leaders learn more about how kids learn and the changing needs of Chicago’s youngest students.
Since 2003, SitStayRead has partnered with schools on Chicago’s South and West sides in neighborhoods of 90% low-income households. Through its innovative approach, SitStayRead targets essential literacy skills, including:
- sight word recognition
- reading fluency
- oracy (using oral language to express ideas)
- reading comprehension
- critical thinking
- active listening
- writing skills
Once a week, for six to eight weeks, a SitStayRead adult Book Buddy comes into the classroom with a Certified Reading Assistance Dog and works with students for one hour on evidenced-based curricula, providing individual attention and small-group activities. The adult first reads a story in Spanish and talks with the students in their native language to help engage them in essential literacy elements such as character identification and plot. Then, the volunteer works with the students on English sight words and encourages the children to write their own stories in Spanish or English (when ready). Students receive new books in Spanish, English, and both languages to start building their home library and to provide opportunities to read with their families when away from school.
This innovative approach to reading has performance numbers to back it up. Students involved with the SitStayRead program demonstrated 47.8 greater reading fluency gains compared to their non-participating peers.
And, while improved reading skills are the primary goal of the SitStayRead/Chicago Public Schools partnership, building a love of reading is just as important for the teams.
“l’ve noticed a love and an excitement for reading as well as writing,” Cozette Wendemu, a second grade teacher at Milton Brunson School, told Northwestern University’s Medill Explores. “Some of the students are ready shy when it comes to speaking. They’ve become more vocal as a result of working with SitStayRead.”
Deirdre Harrison, Interim Executive Director of SitStayRead, wants people to know that their work makes a significant impact on a child’s education, despite it’s cuddly reputation.
“One might think kids, books, dogs–cute,” she wrote on the SitStayRead official blog. “Yes. And. SitStayRead is a radical change agent. Our programs stimulate and nourish ther roots of personal agency and voice by supporting individual and interpersonal tools for lifelong learning and living with curiosity, patience, and courage.”
How To Help
If you or someone you know would like to get involved (especially if you’re a Spanish speaker) please contact SitStayRead Volunteer Program Coordinator Lexsie Hernández at volunteer@sitstayread.org or (773) 661-9251.
SitStay read also accepts financial donations to support their educational programs. A $25 donation purchases a new set of books to start a new student home library, while a $100 donation could underwrite two SitStayRead Dog Team certifications.
