Sit Stay Read

The program provides literacy services to children from low-income households in chicago public schools at no cost to the parents or schools. The mission is to advance children's literacy skills using an engaging curriculum, certified dogs, and dedicated volunteers. During 2022-23, sitstayread's 20th year, with the help of 75 human and 25 canine volunteers, sitstay Read served 1,847 students in 116 classrooms across 18 chicago public schools using three different remote learning programs developed for students in kindergarten through third grade. In addition to the remote learning curriculum, sitstayread provided more than 20,000 books to students during their pandemic learning year. Dogs enable the organization to tackle the serious issue of childhood literacy in a fun and engaging way. Ssr's defining characteristic is incorporating the therapeutic benefit of dogs in the classroom. Students who Read out loud to a dog are less likely to feel worried about making mistakes, which helps them become more confident readers.