| Program Description | Tandem works to close the “word gap,” a studied phenomenon wherein low-income children start school with a lesser vocabulary than their wealthier peers. StoryCycles, Tandem’s school-to-home book-sharing program, provides families with young children with a rich collection of high-quality, multi-lingual books. Children circulate books from school to home weekly, providing each family with an opportunity to share new books on an ongoing basis. With this program, Tandem also trains educators, parents, and caregivers on strategies for creating literacy-rich experiences. Trainings help educators and parents learn simple, practical strategies for building students’ literacy skills, such as word games, rhyming songs, and other hands-on activities that target the American Library Association’s Six Skills of Early Literacy: narrative skills, print awareness, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, print motivation, and vocabulary. Additionally, Tandem trainings offer strategies to build children’s social and emotional understanding, self-regulation, and critical thinking skills. |