BALDWIN PARK – Baldwin Park Unified’s Central, Elwin and Pleasant View elementary schools were granted $50,000 by the Masons of California to implement Raising a Reader, an early reading intervention program for Southern California schools to develop home literacy routines.

Pleasant View hosted the Public School’s Raising a Reader event kick-off on April 9, featuring a performance by Pleasant View transitional kindergarteners and kindergarteners.

Baldwin Park Unified transitional kindergarten and kindergarten parents attended the morning event, alongside District administrators and Masons of California leaders.

Eleven transitional kindergarten and kindergarten classes from Central, Elwin and Pleasant View were selected to participate in the program, in which students receive a red book bag that they will use for 25 weeks to take home three books every week to read with parents and family members.

“My son is a transitional kindergartener at Pleasant View, and we were so excited to get his first red book bag,” Pleasant View Elementary parent Marilyn Melgarejo said. “It has become part of our daily routine to read at home for 15 minutes but we actually go over the required 15 minutes because the books are so much fun to read.”

The books address a range of topics that include science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Some are biliterate, with text in English and Spanish.

The California Masonic Foundation, in partnership with Raising a Reader, invests in public education by supporting early literacy and promoting the practice of home reading habits.

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RAISING_READER: Baldwin Park Unified’s Central, Elwin and Pleasant View elementary schools were granted $50,000 by the Masons of California to implement Raising a Reader, an early reading intervention program.