SACO – Children happily spooned ice cream into their mouths and listening intently to story time at Saco Scoop on Saturday.

What started out as a periodic activity has morphed into a weekly winter event that gets children into the ice cream shop at 209 Main St., which is run by local community group Saco Main Street, and exposes them to reading,

Last Saturday, story time was led by Saco Scoop employee Mary Lee Taylor and Rev. Beverly Lowell from United Baptist Church. There have also been story times led by police officers, princesses and authors and local educators. At the next story time, 2 p.m. on Feb. 23, local author Jordyn Koelker will read her book “What if Mummy Threw a Tantrum?”

The story time was definitely a hit with the children, and their parents appeared to be having a good time as well.

Having a story time wasn’t too far of a stretch at the ice cream shop. Saco Main Street Director Rob Biggs said his wife, Susan is a teacher, and their daughter Ripley, is studying to become a teacher. Biggs said he lent his 1962 copy of “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey to a police officer to read at story time one Saturday at the ice cream shop.

“My mom gave me children’s books for Christmas every year until the day she died,” said Biggs.

The weekly story times is just one of the ways Saco Main Street is helping to promote literacy.

The community group was approached by teacher Erik Squire who, under then umbrella of Saco Main Street, has formed the Saco-Biddeford Community Literacy Team, with help from other educators, and Biggs.

The group’s mission is promoting resources for families to achieve literacy proficiency.

The group is collecting books to distribute where “kids get stuck,” sitting around such as laundromats and auto mechanic shops, said Biggs.

It is also working on getting more Little Free Libraries in Saco in areas of heavy pedestrian traffic. The Little Free Library that was installed in Post Office Park outside the Saco Scoop last year is well used, and the selection of books changes over at least once a week, said Biggs.

The Saco-Biddeford Community Literacy Team will be hosting community forums in Saco and Biddeford for people who want to get involved. The first forum will be held at Saco City Hall at 6 p.m. on March 21.

According to the Maine Educational Assessment 2017-2018 report, about 50 percent of students statewide meet or are above statewide expectations for English language skills and literacy.
The U.S. Department of Education recommends reading to children every day beginning at age six months. Hearing words over and over helps babies become familiar with them and reading to a baby is one of the best ways to help them learn, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Reading to young children daily helps them recognize and use individual sounds to make words, understand the relationship between written letters and spoken sounds, develop ability to read text accurately and quickly, build their vocabulary and increase their reading comprehension, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

For more information on the Saco-Biddeford Community Literacy Team, check out the group’s Facebook page.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be reached at 780-9015 or by email at egotthelf@journaltribune.com.