Initiatives
EDssentials Initiatives are designed to bridge families to the resources, relationships, and learning experiences they need to thrive. Through strategic partnerships and community collaboration, we bring high-quality, family-centered programs directly into the hands of parents and caregivers.
From literacy innovation to summer learning experiences and community-wide events, our initiatives are designed to ensure every family feels supported, informed, and empowered.
Thrive Drive
Thrive Drive is our annual Back-to-School Backpack Drive designed to support families, strengthen community ties, and ensure children are equipped to thrive in the upcoming school year. More than just a backpack giveaway,Thrive Drive is a vibrant, family-friendly event where education meets empowerment, and every parent and caregiver—whether a dad, grandparent, kinship caregiver, homeschooler, or bilingual family—can feel welcomed, informed, and supported.
We Outside!
“We Outside!” is an 8-week, family-centered learning experience designed to support children ages 0–9 through intentional play, exploration, and shared reading. Using a book-a-week model, each week centers on one carefully selected children’s book that serves as the anchor for interdisciplinary learning experiences across literacy, numeracy, the arts, and play-based exploration.
The initiative is designed to be accessible, joyful, and developmentally appropriate, empowering families to embed learning into everyday moments throughout the summer months—when academic engagement often declines. By positioning parents as learning facilitators, the program strengthens home learning environments while nurturing curiosity, confidence, and foundational skills in young children.
Learning Domains Integrated Weekly:
Each week includes:
- A featured children’s book
- A set of guided activities aligned to the four learning domains
- Adaptations for younger (0–3), early childhood (4–6), and early elementary (7–9) learners
- Parent guidance and prompts to support meaningful interaction and conversation
ABC Dino Reading Adventure: Parent Guide
Your child is taking part in an exciting adventure to see if the reading app ABC Dino helps children learning to read become better readers—and have more fun doing it! For three months, your child will join their group in using the app in short, playful sessions every week. We want your child to succeed in their reading journey and in life! Help us understand this app and give us your feedback!
- Strong Start: Early reading skills give your child a head start for school and life!
- Happy Readers: We want children to enjoy reading, not just get better at it.
- Smart Tools: We’re assessing whether ABC Dino is a tool that actually works and makes learning fun.
- There are 4 to 5 groups in the project, each with about 15–20 kids.
- Your child will use ABC Dino 5 times a week at home, for only 4–5 minutes each time (about 20 minutes total per week). You will document their progress with the tracking page and will turn those tracking pages in each month to the facilitator.
- There are three check-in points with the facilitator: beginning, middle, and end.
- At the start, your child will do a quick reading assessment with the facilitator and other students and answer a simple survey about how much they like reading.
- In the middle, we’ll check again to see how things are going.
- At the end, we’ll see how much progress your child has made.
- Be Their Cheerleader: Remind your child to use ABC Dino each week and cheer them on for trying their best.
- Encourage and Motivate: We know it isn’t always possible to create a completely distraction-free space at home. That’s okay! What helps most is giving your child encouragement—maybe even little rewards (like stickers, extra playtime, or a sweet treat) to keep them excited about reading. Incentives can help your child feel good about using the app and build a more positive relationship with reading.
- Share What You See: Tell the research team if you notice something helpful, exciting, or even tricky. Your feedback is super important for improving the experience!
- Does using ABC Dino help kids read better?
- Does it make them want to read more and love books?
- What are the best ways for young kids to learn using fun apps?
- When the study ends, your facilitator will share a one‐page summary of the results.
- If you’d like to know your child’s results before then, you can ask your facilitator at any time during the study.
- Together, with your support, we can help your child—and every child—build reading skills, confidence, and a lifelong love of books. Thank you for being such an important part of this adventure!