Literacy grants from owner of NNBW

Three northern Nevada organizations will receive grants from The Bessie Minor Swift Foundation, formed by the owners and founder of Swift Communications. The company owns Northern Nevada Business Weekly.

Friends of Oasis Academy in Fallon will receive a grant for $2,500 for a licensed teacher to tutor using online reading blogs for 200 students in grades 3-8 during the summer months.

Silver Springs Elementary School will receive $1,916.22 for the Bessie Backpack Program. Bessie Backpacks will contain leveled readers, iPod shuffles containing books and music focused on emerging learning skills and hints and suggestions for parents. These will be part of a borrowing system for low-income parents of preschoolers.

Smith Valley Friends of the Library at Wellington will receive $2,408 for purchase of the Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reading program for the over 200 students in grades 2-12 in Smith Valley Schools. Reading of both fiction and non-fiction books is followed by comprehension testing specific to the book.

Incline Elementary School will receive $2,184 for the purchase of tile sets, binders and dividers to be used with the Barton Reading and Spelling system as part of a literacy program that begins in the summer of 2014 and continues through the 2014-2015 school year. The program will target students who perform at the 25th percentile and below.

Northern Nevada Literacy Council will receive $2,500 for purchase of books, backpacks, notebooks and instructor time for 20 adult learners and 40 of their children. Adult learners are preparing to pass the GED exam or are taking ESL classes, and this summer program will encourage parents and their school-aged children to read together.