“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” - Dr. Seuss

I'm the Washington Reading Corps AmeriCorps volunteer at First Teacher, in Sequim, Washington. One of my favorite and most rewarding projects at First Teacher has been coordinating the Red Book Bag program. Children check out a book bag for a week, and return it next week for a new bag. Dr. Seuss' quote is printed on the front of each book bag, and inside is a treat: four new books to read! They love it. When children are read to, they are learning letters, numbers, colors, and language, all the while enjoying a close and loving relationship with another person.

We distributed more than 100 book bags to children across the County, not just to First Teacher children but also to Head Start children and to Spanish speaking children where I collaborated with Jackey Anderson, another AmeriCorps volunteer.

When you add up the numbers, it is truly wonderful. Each child every week received a new bag with 4 books in it. They did this for 10 weeks so they read 40 books. This was done by over 100 families each week which amounts to 4,000 books read in 10 weeks by these children. That really helps children get off to a good start. The children loved it and the parents loved it. Ninety-nine percent of the parents responded on their evaluations that they thought the program was great.

First Teacher supports parents and caregivers of children from birth to five years' old, and our mission is "Helping Parents Do An Excellent Job As Their Child's First Teacher." Research confirms what Dr. Seuss knew: early literacy gives a child the best chance for success in school and later in life, and AmeriCorps is part of this. AmeriCorps works!