Success by 6™

At United Way we are committed to helping our children succeed in life through early learning initiatives. Below is information on the United Way Preschool Scholarship Program, Preschool Transportation Program, known as The Rainbow Route, Read To Me and Early Childhood Initiative. Take a few minutes to see what is happening in Mower County to make all our children have Success by 6.

Preschool Scholarship and Rainbow Route Transportation Forms

United Way, in partnership with AMCAT and through a grant from The Hormel Foundation, is able to provide transportation to and from preschool for any child attending Austin Area Preschools, not just scholarship recipients. Deadline for submitting transportation forms is July 1, 2010. Transportation eligibility is based on a first come, first serve basis.

Click here for an application for the Rainbow Route.
Click here for the Rainbow Route form in Spanish

Click here for Frequently Asked Questions about Rainbow Route

The United Way Preschool Scholarship Program provides scholarships to 4 year olds attending preschool in Austin. Scholarships are also available in Lyle, Adams and LeRoy for children in ECFE programs. Scholarship forms are due by May 1, 2010.

Click here for more information on the Preschool Scholarship program in Austin and how to apply.
Click here for the information on Preschool Scholarships in Austin in Spanish.

For preschool scholarship information in Adams contact Nancy Dvergsten at (507) 582-3405
For preschool scholarship information in Lyle contact Julie Ruis at (507) 325-2201
For preschool scholarship information in Leroy contact Deb Reburn at (507) 324-5786 x 223

If you would like to donate to the Success by 6 scholarship fund and help our community youth succeed, contact our office at 437-2313 or email at unitedml@smig.net

READ TO ME

United Way, in partnership with ECI, has been working to engage the community around the importance of reading. There are overwhelming statistics that prove reading to your child has many benefits, one of which is preparing them for their future education.

Read To Me is a year long literacy campaign focused on encouraging and informing the public on the importance of reading. Reading to your child 30 minutes a day from birth to 5 provides them with 500 hours of brain food. Events have been scheduled each month for parents and children to partake in centered around reading. Become active in the lives of children around you. Promote a love for reading. Open a book and begin today. Below are numerous links on reading and early learning resources.

Read To Me Literacy Calendar of Events

http://www.bornlearning.org  United Way tips and resources for parents

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/

http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/families_cando.html

http://www.childrenslearninginstitute.org/our-programs/program-overview/CIRCLE/pdfs/dollar-store-literacy.pdf  Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education provides a list of literacy activities for parents and their children using a variety of everyday materials. 

http://www.famlit.org  National Center for Family Literacy.  NCFL helps parents and children learn together every day through family literacy tips, tools and strategies that you can use at home.

http://www.famlit.org/pdf/cultivating-readers.pdf  Tips to grow reading skills for children ages birth to two, three to five, and six to eight.

http://www.rif.org/ RIF, the nation’s largest children’s literacy organization has many tips and activity ideas to motivate children to read.

http://www.reading.org/InformationFor/Parents.aspx  International Reading Association. IRA resources are available to help parents as they take on their critical role as their children’s first and most important teachers.

http://www.nifl.gov/publications/pdf/big_dreams.pdf  National Institute for Literacy, The Partnership for Reading.  Big Dreams, A Family Book About Reading, Preschool Through Grade Three.

http://www.nifl.gov/publications/pdf/ShiningStarsPreschool.pdf  How Parents Can Help Their Preschoolers Get Ready to Read

http://www.nifl.gov/publications/pdf/PRFbrochure.pdf  Put Reading First, Helping Your Child Learn to Read, A Parent Guide, Preschool through Grade Three.

http://www.nifl.gov/publications/publications.html  The National Institute for Literacy develops publications for families and educators of learners across the lifespan.  Publications for parents to download on how to get their children ready to read.

http://www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/familylit/guides/default.html  Web Guides to help parents enhance their child’s literacy and learning.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage/articles/literatehome/main.html  How to create a literate home.

http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/200705/pdf/IdeasforFamilies-Duke.pdf  Ideas for Families, Materials for Reading, A-Z

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/ecrr/resourcesab/handoutsab/06bestbks4-5.pdf  A brochure from San Diego County Library.  Best Books for Fours and Fives, Books and Ideas to help children get ready to read.

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/_files/pdf/TL_ReadingCard.pdf  Developing Active Reading with Effective Questions, Questions to ask before, during, and after reading to help your child develop comprehension.

http://www.picturebookart.org/downloads/ECM_SharingBooks.pdf  Suggestions for Sharing Picture Books with Young Children.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/82  103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading. This article offers a collection of interactive activities that help kids become more involved in the stories that they read.

http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=61  A list of 100 picture books everyone should know

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah-treasury-intro.html  Book titles to aid your read-aloud choices, gives a brief synopsis of each book, grade level, number of pages, and lists related books

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/whatsnu-reviews.html  New children’s literature reviews

http://www.bcplonline.org/firstyears/firstyears_resources.html  Early literacy resources for birth to five from the Baltimore County Public Library

http://www.colorincolorado.org/familias/hogardivertidas.html  Information, activities, and advice for Spanish-speaking parents. Concentrates on school-age children, but some information for young children as well. It's bilingual.

http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_key_language_bookselection&AddInterest=1145  Tips on choosing books for babies and toddlers

http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_key_language_tipsreading&AddInterest=1145 Tips for sharing books with babies and toddlers

http://www.pbs.org/parents/lions/families/    Here you'll find activities and games for kids ages 4 to 7 and activity booklets for families with children ages 3 to 5. You'll also find great read-aloud books and books about teaching reading. And be sure to check out our literacy tips and Leading the Way to Literacy videos for ideas on how to encourage your budding reader.

http://www.parentspluswi.org/earlyliteracy.php  Early literacy quick tools, some also available in Spanish

http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/pgparents.php  Center for Early Literacy Learning provides practice guides for parents of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers

http://www.getreadytoread.org/content/view/95/104/   Here, you will find resources to help your preschooler get ready to learn to read. As your child’s first teacher, you can set him or her in the right direction for a lifetime of reading and learning.  

Early Childhood Initiative

The Early Childhood Initiative is a group of pre-schools, child serving organizations, local businesses and school districts that are concerned with early learning and the birth to five population in Mower County.  The group is housed under United Way of Mower County.

United Way in partnership with the Austin Early Childhood Initiative started a pre-school scholarship program in the spring of 2006. Nineteen four year olds living in at-risk environments, who would not have been financially able to attend pre-school, have been awarded a scholarship for the 2007/2008 year. Thanks to a generous grant from The Hormel Foundation, United Way will be able to send a minimum of 40 children to preschool in 2009/2010 through the Success by 6 Scholarship Program.

Each student's progress was tracked and evaluated. Students were evaluated in five different categories: Academic Development, Physical Development, Social Development, Language Development, and Work Habits. To view the evaluation and results click here.

New in 2007 United Way was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Hormel Foundation to expand its preschool scholarship program to include transportation for the recipients. Currently, United Way and its partners are working with AMCAT to provide transportation not only for scholarship recipients but any 3 or 4 year old attending preschool in Austin for the 2009/2010 year.