They always have been, to me, a way to open your mind, visit new places, and learn to see the world through someone else’s eyes.

Since fall of 2019, the SCI Sibling Brain Builder program has been building on that adventure, and capitalizing on the influence siblings have on their little brothers and sisters, thanks to something researchers call the “sibling spillover effect,” found in a 2014 study. 

This is especially true for low-income and underserved families — a demographic over-represented among children who struggle with reading — where older siblings can pass along school values to the home and home values to the school. The synergy siblings produce through reciprocal teaching is unique to child-child relationships. In this way, either the younger or older sibling can take on a leadership role in creating a fluid relationship very different from the typical teacher/child or parent/child scaffolding process where an expert guides a learner.  

Though COVID-19 limitations on visitors at schools have forced us to change the parameters of Sibling Brain Builders, we’ve been able to find ways to share books with students to read at home and at school.

We were able to send our Sibling Brain Builders at five schools home this spring with a book to read with their little. When school resumed, we’ve found ways to get books and incentives to our readers at C.A. Weis and Montclair elementaries. Our middle school readers at Bellview will be receiving theirs soon. 

And recently, we shared books and their incentive gift bags with students at Lincoln Park Elementary, where our relaunch coincided with National Book Week celebrations at the school. Thanks to the generosity of our donors at Step One Automotive Group, we gave books, bookmarks and gift bags to each of 253 students at the school. 

Thank you, Step One, for your support of our work. 

 

Launched in Escambia County elementary and middle schools in 2019, SCI Sibling Brain Builders has two tracks:  

— Middle School: At Bellview Middle School, a teacher champion with SCI program manager builds lesson plans around a children’s book that the Sibling Brain Builders read at home with their little brother or sister, ages 0 to 5. The lesson plans are then used in class to review concepts important to the language arts skill-building of the middle schoolers. The learning environment promotes brain building in babies while improving kindergarten and school readiness. We had 21 students in the first group of Brain Builders. 

— Elementary: At four Title I schools, (Montclair, Weis, Semmes and Lincoln Park elementary schools), librarians partner with an SCI community champion to provide pupils with books and reading materials to take home to share and read with their younger siblings.  

At two schools, students use Brain Builder Reading Logs, to track the number of minutes they read with a younger sibling at home and return those forms each week. Students who meet their monthly reading goals receive a free book.  

Through March 13, 2020 we’ve had 120 students participate, logging about 501 hours of reading.  

At two schools — Montclair and Lincoln Park — fourth grade teachers have assigned a classroom of students to be Reading Buddies with a 4-year-old in a VPK class in their school. The Montclair fourth graders who are Buddy Readers average a 38 percent increase in their reading fluency scores from August to December. The students in the lowest quartile of the class in their August scores saw an average increase of 46 percent.