Small Smiles | Free Utah Elementary School Reading Incentive Program

FUN FACTS ABOUT SMALL SMILES READING PROGRAM:

Small Smiles was founded in 2000 by John and Lynn Bergman of Syracuse, Utah.

Small Smiles donates over 10,000 reading incentives to local elementary schools annually.

This reading program was especially designed to encourage at risk or below grade level readers. Helping those students who need help the most.

Small Smiles is free for Utah elementary schools and fun for the children.

Small Smiles is a non-profit program funded by private corporate sponsors, costing the school, the teachers, the parents, or the taxpayer nothing.

Small Smiles sponsored every request for funding last year involving reading at local elementary schools.

Small Smiles recognizes one Utah student every year with a $1000.00 college scholarship.

Small Smiles is a free reading incentive program for all Utah elementary schools that was founded and designed to encourage children to improve their reading skills. Small Smiles started 7 years ago with a simple idea of helping students excel in reading, by donating reading incentives to help with below grade level reading classes. This program started at one Utah Elementary school and has grown to over 56 Utah elementary schools with 8,000 students in the reading program. We hope that this program will continue to grow across the nations reaching out to millions of students. Our program is generously funded by local corporate sponsors allowing us to extend this great program to more and more schools every year. Immediate future plans are in place to expand the program to an additional 120 schools in Utah. We believe that by investing in local children's education will can make a difference in Utah.

Our desire is that every young child leaves elementary school with the reading skills and confidence that will allow them to excel in their futures. Reading is one of the most important basic education principals that a child can learn. Every school has a percentage of children that struggle with reading at their desired grade reading level. Many of these children grow up, becoming adults with sub-par reading skills that force them to struggle with their families, friends and careers. If we can make a difference in just one child's life each year, then we feel our program is a success. We believe successful student education requires the teamwork of students, parents, teachers, and the community.

We work closely with local school leaders and below grade reading specialists, offering incentives and rewards to struggling reading students who improve their reading skills and/or achieve higher reading grade levels throughout the year. At the end of each year we ask the reading specialist to have a student of their choice write and submit an essay to us. We select one of those students, based on their essay, and recognizes them with a $1000 college scholarship.

We also offer additional funding for school specific activities and programs that assist below grade reading students on a case-by-case basis for schools that are currently participating in our program. We do this because we encourage teachers to think outside the box, and come up with ideas and programs that work specifically for their students.

If your school is not involved please seriously consider applying for this free program. Applying is very simple, just fill out the form on our contact page and we will contact you with the program details.

Whitney Porter

9th grader at Syracuse Jr. High

Whitney Porter took the stage at our annual reading ceremonies

on December 13, 2007 at Columbia Elementary in Kaysville Utah.

Whitney sang an amazing rendition of “MAKE SOME NOISE” by

HANNAH MONTANA and stole the hearts of all those that filled

the gymnasium, from students, teachers, district administration,

and state government officials. Whitney truly made some noise.

In the weeks leading up to the ceremony at Columbia Elementary

Whitney spent countless hours rehearsing this song, all to take

part in our annual theme of students inspiring students to achieve

excellence. Whitney truly gave an outstanding performance and

truly inspired the students at Columbia Elementary.

The volunteers at Small Smiles are mostly student volunteers from across the valley, from kindergarten to high school, they all come together with one purpose, inspire others to read. Thousands of volunteer hours are given to the Small Smiles Reading program each year. To all our volunteers we say thank you, and to Whitney we say thank you for the many hours you spent rehearsing this song and having what it takes to stand in front of hundreds of people and give it your best.

Whitney Porter performing at Columbia Elementary for the 2007 Annual Reading Ceremony

A Free Non-Profit Reading Incentive Program For Utah Elementary Schools