MahmoudAbad House of Children (Pooyesh)

Location: Imam Reza highway, near KhavarShahr town
Age Group: preschoolers, elementary and middle school students
Number of Children: 600
Start Date: 2010

 In 2010, the Read with Me program was implemented as a pilot plan for 109 elementary school and 38 middle school students in MahmoudAbad House of Children where children took part in weekly Reading Aloud and artistic activity sessions. Despite the positive achievements of the project, after two years, the project was stopped due to management problems. When the issues resolved, the project was picked up again in summer 2014.

Currently, trained teachers and tutors of this center hold weekly Reading Aloud sessions for children from 1^st through 5^th grades.

By establishing a Cabin Library at the intersection of MahmoudAbad, AshrafAbad and GhaniAbad villages, in November 2017, Read with Me aimed to start its activities in two schools as well as improving children’s learning, reading, writing and living skills. This project is based on lending quality books, holding Reading Aloud sessions and book related activities for children.

In this library, trained Read with Me librarians and volunteers serve children and families for at least three times a week. In addition to children living in the vicinity, students from nearby villages are also members of the library.

Pooyesh Association promotes reading in MahmoudAbad village as well as EslamAbad. The Cabin Library in MahmoudAbad is a center that works outside school hours and focuses on young adult books.

Pooyesh Read with Me Library – Cabin Library

This library comprises 1200 copies and 500 titles of books. The librarian has been trained in read-aloud techniques, children’s literature and designing child-centered libraries. Children of all age-groups from all surrounding villages can benefit from this library. In addition, the librarian implements the Read with Me program in schools in cooperation with teachers and tutors.

This library is also a base for Read with Me volunteers to receive book backpacks and promote reading in the schools and classrooms of the region. Two schools have been covered through this.

This library was equipped by the Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature and the supports of Sorayya GhezelAyagh in memory of her husband.

Pooyesh Read with Me Library – Education Center

Books from the Cabin Library are brought to Pooyesh Education Center and are replaced monthly. These books are used by children as well as tutors.

Two hours have been allocated to Read with Me in Pooyesh Education Center. One for lending books and one for read-alouds. In addition to read-aloud sessions, this center works with Phonemic Awareness Skills and Learning Farsi through Literature packages.

The tutors are trained in Basic Literacy Creative Education, Read-aloud, Children’s Literature, Dramatic Arts and Librarianship workshops.

Overview

Pooyesh Association was established in MahmoudAbad  in 2008 by a number of university students. Despite its vicinity to Tehran, this village is of poor condition, deprived of the most basic amenities such as access to clean drinkable water.

Most of its population are brick-kiln workers living with their entire families in tiny rooms next to the brick-kilns.

Initially, Read with Me started by sending more than 130 books to 147 children of different age groups.

Two years later, the program restarted by the request of Pouyesh administration. In this stage, Read with Me sent another 196 story books as well as 100 basic literacy creative education packages to the center and held several rounds of workshops for its tutors.

Currently, preschool to 5^th grade students are covered by the Read with Me program. Read-aloud sessions are held weekly for 30 students.