Friday, December 11, 2020 Charleston County Library

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Charleston County Public Library (CCPL) and Charleston County School District (CCSD) are expanding their current partnership thanks to a 4K literacy grant. 

The Charleston County School District is one of six districts in the state to receive a one-year grant focused on improving children's readiness for Kindergarten. The project targets rural areas in the state and CCSD's project focuses on District 23, which includes Ravenel, Hollywood, and Edisto Island. The $85,580 grant will provide each four-year-old Kindergarten (4K) student with a set of take-home books and accompanying "take and make" activities, which focus on five key early literacy practices: read, write, talk, sing, and play.

"The opportunity for students to grow their personal libraries and be surrounded by books both at home and school is invaluable," said Christine Zamboki, CCSD's Director of Early Learning. "Take home books are a great way for families to read together and build a love for reading at a young age." 

The Charleston County Public Library is a key partner in this project. CCPL encourages families to participate in the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program and use the community resources at the new St. Paul's Hollywood library branch. 

"This project is another example of the importance of the partnership between CCSD and CCPL and how we are working together to build a community of readers," said Christy James, CCSD's Library Services Coordinator. 

The grant also provides teacher training and classroom devices to increase access to high-quality digital literacy resources. The South Carolina Early Learning literacy standards for 4K students taught in the classroom need to be reinforced at home. In order to ensure that 4K students have access to high-quality digital instruction in the classroom and at home during eLearning days, the 4K classrooms are receiving 1:1 iPads to access the digital literacy program LEXIA Core 5. LEXIA has a phonemic awareness component where the instruction is individualized for each child. 

This funding program, South Carolina Community Block Grants for Education Pilot Program, is a one-time appropriation in the state budget and administered by the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC).