Free summer reading enhancement opportunity

The Baltimore Conference Lay Organization (BCLO) of the Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church is proud to announce its partnership with the Turner Pilot Reading Program. Many of the volunteers assisting in the program are retired educators who wanted to give back to the community.

The Reading Program is designed to aid in refocusing re-entry to a new school year for grades first to the third graders, concentrating on basic phonics that enables children to understand the science of reading and to pronounce words. BCLO has agreed to provide transportation for any children on the Eastern Shore who would meet at the assigned pickup spot to travel to Trinity AME Church in Baltimore, on July 27, to be properly assessed by a trained Test Administrator between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. This testing is done to properly group the children for the two-week virtual instructions, which begins just before returning to school for the new 2024/25 school year.

The actual program runs Monday through Thursday, Aug. 5-8 and Monday through Thursday, Aug. 12-15, 2024 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Children are instructed virtually for an hour and a half on each of these days, with a very intentional set of skills presented daily. White and Crayton stated “This is a clarion call to aid in increasing reading scores of children throughout the state of Maryland.”

Parents on the Eastern Shore interested in having their first through third grader participate in this totally free reading enhancement program should contact Alvin White, president of the BCLO at 667-437-1674 (leave a message) email, alvin512004@yahoo.com or Marion Crayton 301-502-7609 (leave a message) email mltcrayton@gmail.com. Interested persons in the program who also will have need for transportation should contact no later than July 20.