April-2020-Advisor_2

CELEBRATING

APRIL 2020 CEA ADVISOR 19

READING BUS BRINGS THE JOY OF READING HOME Covering five towns in five days, big blue bus delivers miles of smiles

the first to board the bus, said, “This event is awesome, and my students are very excited. The book they had read to them was a good choice, because we just finished Kindness Month and are setting new goals each week.” She added that graphic novels, as well as realistic fiction they can relate to, are perennial favorites among children her students’ age. “Fun activities that encourage children to keep reading are important, because finding books that they like to read, especially at this age, can be challenging. Some students are struggling with the foundations of reading, and others are immersing themselves in video games or other activities, so anything that encourages them to read is great in my book. They especially like the fact that they get to take a book home with them and keep it.” That was a sentiment shared by students in Plainfield, where the bus tour kicked off. Among each group that participated, the reaction to receiving a free book of their choice was an excited, “To take home?” The bus also stopped at East Hartford’s Silver Lane Elementary School before traveling to Manchester the following day, where guest readers included iHeartRadio personality Renee DiNino. “The bus tour allows me to share my love of reading, and the book I read— Daisy Mae Finds Her Way — promotes kindness to people and animals.” Read Across America, the nation’s largest literacy event, is a reading motivation and awareness program started by the National Education Association that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. The event has been so well received that it has expanded from a one-day celebration into a weeklong event with more than 45 million students, parents, and teachers participating in reading parties, community read-ins, activities, character parades, book fairs, and more.

“This motivates me to read more,” said Dayana Yanes, aboard a big blue bus parked outside Mayberry Elementary School. The East Hartford fourth-grader was one of dozens of students at her school who boarded the colorful Read Across America bus to hear You Will Change the World One Day , June Peters’ story of a ten-year-old girl whose heart leads her to help a stranger, and then an entire community. The guest reader was CEA Vice President Tom Nicholas, who is president of the Connecticut Education Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Connecticut Education Association. CEF sponsors the literacy extravaganza with partners iHeartRadio and the National Education Association. “It was a really nice story that teaches us to be kind to each other,” said Dayana, who herself reads to a younger sibling at home. “And the bus is great!” The customized, 38-foot schoolbus—decorated with Dr. Seuss characters and outfitted with bookshelves, benches, carpeting, and hundreds of new books—is the centerpiece of CEF’s annual Read Across America Reading Bus Tour. The third annual bus tour rolled into seven eastern Connecticut schools in five towns this year to bring the joy of reading to hundreds of students in urban, suburban, and rural districts. Complete with guest readers, costumed characters, crafts, and literacy activities, the bus tour also included book bags filled with school supplies and a new book of their choice for nearly 1,000 students in East Hartford, Manchester, Killingly, Plainfield, and Sprague. The gift of reading “Our Reading Bus Tour is about creating lifelong learners by showing children how exciting reading can be,” said Nicholas. “We’re proud to work with our teachers to promote reading and get great books into students’ hands. We know that reading is an important factor in student achievement. Research shows that children who spend more time reading do better in school, and for that reason and so many others, there is no more important gift than literacy.” Mayberry fourth-grade teacher Tracy Doyle, whose students were

Tracy Doyle’s fourth-graders, at East Hartford’s Mayberry School, get ready to hear CEF President Tom Nicholas read You Will Change the World One Day .

Linden Street School in Plainville welcomed CEA President Jeff Leake as a guest reader during Read Across America week. He read Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal to the entire third grade.

First- and second-graders at Sayles School in Baltic get into the spirit of reading with teacher Kristen Nowak.

Watch CEA’s Read Across America video at youtu.be/ H0rDJzR1jT4.

CEA’s Michele Ridolfi O’Neill, as the Cat in the Hat, high-fives students as they board the bus.

iHeartRadio’s Renee DiNino is the celebrity reader at Waddell Elementary School in Manchester.

State Senator Saud Anwar reads to children at Silver Lane Elementary School in East Hartford.