Multicultural Reading Program
The Multicultural Reading Program is an award-winning literacy development program that Churchill Road kids and teachers love! This program consists of multilingual reading and multicultural value comparisons aligned with the Language Arts curriculum. Research at Johns Hopkins University showed the program effectively motivated children to engage with multicultural reading and world languages. This program won the Northern Virginia PTA award for Family Engagement and was nominated for a Virginia PTA award in 2019. In addition, it was proudly presented at the Virginia Association for the Gifted annual conference in 2019.
Questions? Contact our Multicultural Reading Program Coordinator.
Volunteer for multicultural reading
Do you want to be part of this exciting multicultural journey? Parents read books first in their native languages and then in English while introducing the specific countries and artifacts to classrooms. In addition, they will help children compare cultural values with their own through small activities.
Orientation
TBD
How the Multicultural Reading Program Works
We will have at least one lesson per grade from kindergarteners through six-graders. Previously kindergartners learned about India, first-graders Spanish-speaking countries, second-graders South Korea, and third-graders Russia. See some examples (PDF)!
You will show a short video of one country and share its artifacts with students during the class. Then, you will read a carefully selected children's book in a native language first and then in English, helping students predict the story first for better engagement. After the reading, students will do small activities to compare cultural values with their own. The lesson, aligned with the Virginia Language Arts curriculum, will be detailed in a lesson plan with instructions. The Coordinator will provide you with all the resources you'll need — book, video, presentation, and activity materials.
