Award Winning Reading Program in Seaford Empowers Parents and St - WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 -

SEAFORD, De.- A program in Blades Elementary is helping Hispanic parents to find better ways to help their children.

Blades’ Latino Family Literacy Project (LFLP)  offers Latino parents an opportunity to read bilingual books weekly, discuss them in a group and learn about tools to be more involved with their children education. 

"There are three components to the program: literacy, connections, and community,"  says teacher Lyndsey Gerstle, who has been part of the program for four years.  " The program builds a sense of community between the Latino families and  bridges connections between home and school." 

Every Thursday night parents gather to read and discuss bilingual stories that later they'll share with their families at home. 
"We notice some of our Hispanic students were having trouble finishing their homework at home," says Gerstle. "That's why we decided to pursue this program to help our students and their parents. 

The parents are also working on a scrapbook project to share with their children at the end of the school year. 

This year, the program was awarded the  Superstars in Education award from the The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce. The award will be presented in a ceremony on May 13 in Wilmington University.