When she was a little girl, Ruckiya Ross would read the dictionary for fun. She and her brother would even compete with each other to learn new words. So it’s not surprising to see Ross leading a presentation on phonemic awareness to pre-K children at the Garfield Park Conservatory.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, think about, and work with individual sounds, known as phonemes, the smallest parts of spoken language that combine to form words. “I had an early understanding that sounds were the key, and from there, I was always an avid reader,” Ross said. “I think I was indoctrinated by (the show) ‘Reading Rainbow.
'” Ross is the founder of a nonprofit centered on making the reading journey fun and cool with music. The endeavor, which began in 2015, has an initiative called Reading Music, in which Ross sings jingles like “CVC” (consonant, vowel, consonant) and “Silent E” — ditties with a pop and hip-hop flare that set and reinforce a foundation of reading skills for primary school students. The hope is the jingles serve as earworms for children and families who may not have the resources to improve their reading skills outside a classroom setting.
Education Couture makes those resources accessible. Ross says the process is designed to meld literacy instruction with musical tracks to mirror the tunes heard on streaming services and the radio. Ross runs the organization with her childhood friend, Executive Director Querida Flores.
The pair run free.
