{"id":9742,"date":"2015-03-07T10:10:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-07T16:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=9742"},"modified":"2015-03-09T12:32:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T17:32:56","slug":"video-sitstayread-improves-its-reading-to-dogs-literacy-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-sitstayread-improves-its-reading-to-dogs-literacy-program\/","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: SitStayRead improves its \u201creading-to-dogs\u201d literacy program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Courtney Dillard<\/p>\n<p>Man\u2019s best friend can also make a pretty good reading teacher. At least according to SitStayRead, a literacy program in Chicago Public Schools. It uses dogs to help kids improve their reading skills by having young people read books aloud to patient canine listeners.<\/p>\n<p>Jamese Linton, a second grader at Milton Burson Math and Science Specialty School enjoys the weekly visits of the dogs each Wednesday. \u201cWe get to read, we get to write,\u201d she said. \u201cWe always get to pet the dogs and give the dogs treats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year the organization is partnering with Loyola University to introduce new curricula for its first-through-fourth grade programs.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Dillard In Depth Final Edit 3\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/121425536?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In 2013, SitStayRead evaluated the success of the program in fluency, comprehension and written expression with the help of Loyola. They found that participating students improved their fluency scores at a rate 47.8 percent greater than students who did not participate in the program. But they also found the program did not impact written expression and comprehension scores.<\/p>\n<p>This year they plan to introduce a new comprehension-based version of their second grade program. They are also piloting ten-week programs in their third and fourth grade classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur hope is that by next year we will have weekly dog visits in every grade that we serve from first through fourth grade, \u201csaid Kate McIlvain, SitStayRead\u2019s program director.<\/p>\n<p>The idea for SitStayRead started eleven years ago when MaryEllen Schneider and Sarah Murphy took their dogs to a local library to read with kids. They realized they could bring the program directly to students in low-income communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat they found was that kids coming to the library with their parents had the type of resources to be around books,\u201d said McIlvain. \u201cSo they thought maybe we could take the idea directly into school classrooms where students don\u2019t have the same resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SitStayRead is now in 13 Chicago Public Schools and serves more than two thousand students each year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve noticed a love and an excitement for reading as well as writing,\u201d said Cozette Wendemu, a second grade teacher at Milton Brunson School in Chicago\u2019s Austin neighborhood. \u201cSome of the students are really shy when it comes to speaking. They\u2019ve become more vocal as a result of working with SitStayRead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SitStayRead plans to introduce the new program at a few schools later this year. If it is successful, students can expect new curricula at all participating schools next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Courtney Dillard Man\u2019s best friend can also make a pretty good reading teacher. At least according to SitStayRead, a literacy program in Chicago Public Schools. It uses dogs to help kids improve their reading skills by having young people read books aloud to patient canine listeners. Jamese Linton, a second grader at Milton Burson [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":9856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,30,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>VIDEO: SitStayRead improves its \u201creading-to-dogs\u201d literacy program - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-sitstayread-improves-its-reading-to-dogs-literacy-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VIDEO: SitStayRead improves its \u201creading-to-dogs\u201d literacy program - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Courtney Dillard Man\u2019s best friend can also make a pretty good reading teacher. 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