‘Every Day is a Reading and Writing Day’ at a Glance

Research shows that prior to starting school, children from high-income families benefit from 400 hours more literacy-related activities than children from low-income families. By age four, a high-income child is exposed to 35 million more words than a low-income child. The “Every Day is a Reading and Writing Day” program aims to reduce that gap in literacy rates.

The program is a bilingual, digital resource that includes tips, games and activities that parents, caregivers and volunteers can engage children with to improve their reading and writing capabilities from an early age. The resources are available, for free, to parents across the country at www.sesamestreet.org/literacy.

The program’s resources include:

• Video segments that draw from everyday life and model ways for parents to easily engage their children in activities around vocabulary, reading and writing.Materials volunteers can use to plan fun-filled literacy-based experiences for children and families.
• A Parent/Caregiver guide with information and activities to encourage literacy development for children ages two to five. The guide also includes additional material that parents can use to help form the building blocks for literacy in children ages zero to two.
• A new mobile site with videos, games and activities for parents and volunteers to enjoy with children on-the-go, as well as an online section dedicated to “Every Day is a Reading and Writing Day” on sesamestreet.org.