Team Kirkwood
Literacy Lab
The Team Kirkwood Literacy Lab brings books to life for elementary-age children through holistic engagement with the text. Each story is a starting point for exploring the world, learning life skills, and developing the unique interests of each child. Our programs ignite the imagination and cultivate the next generation of informed, active citizens.
Working with a wide variety of sponsors, we design activities that expand our students’ horizons in multiple ways - finding a new city on a map, eating new foods, learning the lost art of the handwritten thank you note, hearing new music, and more. Our commitment to underprivileged children is simple: loving guidance to see a world beyond their immediate circumstances.
CONTACT US
for information on bringing the Team Kirkwood Literacy Lab
to your learning space
“In 20 years of education, I have never experienced volunteers as creative, committed and charismatic as Team Kirkwood—Alan & Kathlyn. The time they have spent with my students has been AMAZING! My students have been exposed to diverse cultures and experiences through their encounters with the Kirkwoods; my students have visited Egypt, the voting booths of the fifties, and rice paddies around the world among other adventures. I wish I had twenty other Papa & Mama K’s to put in every classroom in my building. I’m grateful for them and their hearts for literacy.”
Myra H. Taylor, Executive Principal
Buena Vista Enhanced Option Elementary School
79%
of low-income children in the U.S. read below grade level entering the fourth grade*
66%
of all third-graders in Nashville public schools read below grade level*
48%
of Americans without a high school diploma live in poverty*
More than half of all public school fourth graders read below grade-level,* and the literacy gap is even greater for minority and low-income students. Without strong reading skills, young people are more likely to drop out of school, live in poverty, become incarcerated, and raise children who repeat the cycle of limited opportunity. We all benefit from helping young people reach their full potential, and each one of us has something to offer.
Explore Our Projects
Students present their voter registration cards while waiting to vote for class officials
Civil rights & citizenship
Why We Should Vote
The Why We Should Vote series presents students with a variety of books about the struggle to secure equal voting rights for African Americans and women, and the importance of participating in our democracy. These lessons are then put into action with a classroom election, complete with voter registration and campaigns, to demonstrate the profound importance of exercising our rights as involved, informed citizens.
Students dress as Supreme Court justices while learning about Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
Learning about the supreme court
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley
I am Sonia Sotomayor by Brad Meltzer
The lives of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor teach invaluable lessons about perseverance, courage, and breaking barriers in the legal system and beyond.
Exploring cultures through rice from around the world
around the world
One Grain of Rice by Demi
Students learn the story of a village girl who uses the power of math to win a billion grains of rice from a rajah for her village, and then explore vocabulary and facts related to this global staple food. Sampling four varieties of rice offers a first-hand experience of diverse cuisines from around the world and a chance to expand young palates.
Sponsors
Team Kirkwood literacy programs are made possible through the generous involvement of our sponsors. By providing classroom supplies, administrative support, experiential opportunities, cash donations, and other assistance, individuals and organizations of all sizes help deliver transformative reading experiences to students in need.
Your help changes a child’s life.
Contact us to learn how your support can make a difference.
Learn more about sponsor support from Staples manager Richard Kaiser, whose generous donations help support Nashville’s young readers.
TEAM KIRKWOOD SPONSORS
Elder Russell Bates
Mr. Omari Booker
Bessie Durr
Rev. Damien Durr
Mr. Kenneth Ford
Ms. Anaxet Jones, Esq.
Ryan D. Mire, MD, FACP
Dr. Tanya Malone, DO
Dr. Robert Shell, MD
Pamela S. Turner
Heritage Medical Association
