Joining more than 45 million readers across the country, preschoolers at the West Haven Community House read more than 225 books in the week leading up to the 18th annual National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America Day on Friday, March 2.
NEA’s Read Across America Day celebrates Dr. Seuss’s birthday and the joys of reading. In addition, it promotes adult participation in the education of our community’s students with a goal to build a nation of readers every day.
Each of the seven classrooms conducted Dr. Suess-themed literacy activities throughout the week and provided books to Head Start families promoting the significance of reading to their children daily. The preschoolers kept track of how many books they read at home with their families and each classroom displayed the results as well as artwork associated with the books they read.
“Because of Covid-19, our annual Read Across America event looks very different this year. We typically invite friends of the Community House to read to children in the preschool classrooms and hold literacy-focused parent engagement activities, but with social distance measures in place, we opted to send books home to students to encourage at home reading,” said Abel Padro, West Haven Community House Head Start director. “The results were more than inspiring with more than 225 books read with one classroom reading 61 books in the week,” he continued.
Patty Stevens, executive director of the Community House was just as lavish in her praise.
“For 80 years, the West Haven Community House has provided significant leadership in educating our youth and is grounded in the principle that an investment in education is key to our community’s well-being and long-term quality of life,” she said. “We provide a comprehensive school readiness curriculum through our Head Start program, as well as help working families in our Children & Youth Services program that provides before and after school care for elementary school-aged children in eight West Haven school sites.”
For more information about the West Haven Community House, please visit whcommunityhouse.org or call (203) 934-5221.