Reading & Math: A New Literacy Series in the Reading Tub

As y’all know, the Reading Tub® is a nonprofit for children’s literacy. Our goal is, quite simply, to bring reading home to families. Although we tend to equate literacy and reading books, it is much broader than that. For better or worse, Literacy (with a capital “L”) is parsed into lots of subsets: 21st Century Literacy, information literacy, life literacy, etc. Financial literacy is also one of those labels.

In mid-August 2010, I received an email from a young woman who wanted to volunteer with us. Cady North is passionate about helping kids become successful as adults. In her introduction to me, she wrote:

I am specifically interested in improving the financial literacy in America’s youth and underprivileged families. I would like to work on research or projects that help expand awareness of personal finance issues such as savings programs, how to make and keep a budget, how to properly complete tax forms, how credit works, etc.

Voila! A project is now off the ground! For more than a year now, I have been trying to find a way to create a project that overlays math and reading. Learning your numbers and understanding how they fit into “real life” is a process that parallels learning your letters and ultimately learning to read.

Cady has jumped in with both feet and I am excited by all of the great stuff she’s found already. With September nearly here – and school underway (or about to be) – it seemed to be the perfect time to launch our series. Over the next few weeks, we will be featuring Cady’s work in a series I am calling Reading + Math. CHANGE: Reading & Math. Our goal is to explain the symbiotic relationship between math and reading, link you to some great resources, and – most importantly – invite you share your ideas!

Image Credit:

Intersection of Two Cubes by Colt Mazeo at OpenClipArt.com