DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Education spent $3.5 million to give every 1st grader in the state book packs they can take home and keep to improve their reading skills.
The book packs contain multiple decodable books — books that have words kids can sound out and read at home to improve their literacy.
The books in the book packs are part of the curriculum based on the science of reading which, put simply, focuses on teaching kids to sound out parts of words and then putting them together to learn to read.
First-grade teacher Kari Osborne at Des Moines’ Findley Elementary School, said it’s important for parents to help their kids learn to read using the decodable book packs.
“Families don’t always know exactly what’s going on in our day. And so we would really want them to know that this is something that they’re working on. They’ve been working really hard on learning to read. And that’s our goal, is to get them to learn to read and to enjoy reading. So we want them to do this with their families at home too,” Osborne said.
On the first page of every book in the book packs is information on the reading skill the book focuses on and a QR code parents can scan for more information on how to instruct their kids.
To learn more about the decodable book packs visit the Department of Education’s website.
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