2022 has been a year for the record books at R2S! Check out our quick look back in the video below:

2022 By the Numbers:

• 100+ tutors and community partner staff trained
• Over 750 families participating in family reading and community events
• 2,000+ culturally-responsive children's books distributed
• 150 PreK and elementary students reached by programming weekly
• 10 reading teachers supporting after-school classrooms
• 40+ reading tutors supporting K-4 students twice a week
• 100% of students enrolled in R2S Tutoring Program demonstrating gains in foundational reading skills
• 6 visits with local students by Black children's book authors
• 6 new members added to the R2S Board of Directors
• 2 new full-time staff members added to R2S team
. . . and much more!

Is your family looking for a unique and impactful way to give back this holiday season? Keep reading in mind as you explore fun and charitable ways to spread holiday cheer and support your community.

1. Donated gently used books
Making space for new books and gifts arriving at your house this holiday season? Encourage your entire family to collect gently used items (books, clothes, toys, etc.) for donation. Make sure they are in good condition, clean, and worthy of donation to be enjoyed by another family. Great places to donate gently used books include:

• Charity/thrift stores
• Free Little Libraries
• Local literacy nonprofits

2. Read and feed
What better way to practice reading, writing, and explore new vocabulary together than through food and cooking? Write a grocery list of items with your kids to buy and donate to a local food pantry or read a recipe together and cook a holiday treat for a neighbor or community group. Great places to donate food in Asheville and Buncombe County this holiday season include:

• Local food pantries
• BeLoved Street Pantries
• Haywood Street Congregation

3. Write a holiday letter
Reaching out to loved ones near and far during the holidays can bring a lot of cheer and happiness to others who may find this time of year lonely or challenging. Work with your kids to write and decorate holiday cards and letters filled with encouraging words and love.

4. Read to others
Children can practice reading to others around the holidays in a variety of ways - Zoom Grandma and read her a bedtime story, contact a local animal shelter and see if they let children read to any of their feline residents, record a live story time and share privately with family and friends, the options are endless!

5. Give the gift of literacy
If your family contributes to charitable organizations around the holidays, consider education and literacy nonprofits that are working hard to support students in learning to read. The impact of COVID on learning loss, combined with decades of declining reading growth, especially among elementary students, means that the work of reading tutors and education organizations is more important than ever.

On December 17, 2022, visit Barnes & Noble (Biltmore Town Square) for a unique way to support to Read to Succeed!

Shop for holiday gifts and use the voucher below to make sure a portion of your purchase goes to R2S' community-powered literacy programming.
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It's easy! Click the flyer with barcode attached below, print, and present it at checkout at Barnes & Noble on Saturday, Dec. 17!

In addition to great holiday shopping, there will also be free games and treats for kids, face painting, prizes, and more!

Even better? Save 10% on one item using the coupon below - click to download and print, and present at checkout on 12/17/22.

Looking for a fun learning activity for your PreK child to enjoy over Winter Break? Don’t miss these five activities, complete with supply lists, directions, and family reading tips!

1. Gingerbread Letters
A student’s ability to recognize and name letters and letter sounds is a fundamental reading skill that helps prepare them for kindergarten. Practice letter name recognition with this delicious cookie-inspired activity.

We based our recipe off of this no-cook recipe from Artful Parent, with an addition of gingerbread cookie spices!

Supplies:

• 1 Cup Flour
• ¼ Cup Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cream of Tartar
• 1 Tablespoon Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 Teaspoons Ginger
• ¼ Teaspoon Cloves
• 1 Cup Boiling Water
• Food Coloring

Gingerbread Dough instructions:

• Mix the dough together either with a stand mixer or knead by hand.
• Mix together the flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
• Add 1 drop of yellow, 2 drops of red food coloring, and 1 drop of green into the hot water.
• Pour the wet mix into the dry mix. Stir well and knead until it is no longer sticky but smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes.
  
  

Activity instructions:

• Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out (about ¼ inch thick).
• Stamp it with letter cookie cutters, or use a clean wet knife to cut out letters of your choosing.
• Encourage your child to stamp out letters of their name or fun holiday words like “hat,” “gift,” “bell,” “elf,” “star,” or snow.”

2. Snowman Letter Match
PreK students being able to identify, read, and write lowercase and uppercase letters is essential to kindergarten readiness. Students can use this activity to learn that uppercase letters have a special job (i.e., on names and places), and lowercase letters are used most often.

Supplies:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue or tap
• Markers or crayons

Activity instructions:

• Choose 5 - 10 letters from the alphabet that your child will write for the activity.
• Cut out one small circle and an equal number of medium and large circles from the construction paper for the three mains parts of a snowman.
• Ask your child to draw a snowman’s face on the smallest circle.
• On the medium circles, ask your child to write the uppercase letter.*
• On the large circles, ask your child to write a matching lowercase letter.*
• Practice letter matching by placing a medium circle (uppercase letter) under the snowman face and asking your child to find the large matching circle (lowercase letter)

*Check out this letter formation guide for practicing writing letters.

3. Hot Chocolate Alphabet Match
Turn your crafty cup of cocoa into a fun activity for matching lowercase and uppercase letters – and practicing letter names and sounds!

Check out a supply list and directions over on Toddler Approved - click here.

4. Snowball Letter Fight
Get active while learning with this winter-inspired activity that supports letter recognition skills.

Supplies:

• White construction paper
• Marker
• Tape
• Masking tape

Activity instructions:

• Choose 5 - 10 letters for your child to write
• Write one letter on each piece of construction paper
• Tape them evenly spaced out on the wall
• For the snowball, crumple a couple of pieces of construction paper and wrap them in masking tape to hold it together.
• Encourage your child to say a letter name and then throw their “snowball” at the matching letter on the wall.

5. Finger Painting Fun with Frosting!
In addition to recognizing and naming letters, learning to write letters with the correct letter formation is an important skill for PreK students to be able to learn to read when they get to kindergarten. Use this fun activity to practice letter formation (and enjoy a yummy treat!).

Supplies:

• Icing
• Little candies (M&Ms, sprinkles, crushed candy cane, etc.
• Tray or plate

Activity Instructions:

• Spread icing on a tray or plate into a relatively flat/smooth area
• Encourage your child to trace a letter into the icing with their finger; practice letters that are commonly mixed up, for ex: b and d, m and w, p and q
• Use the little candies to build letters too, or fill in the finger-traced letters.