Tucker Pomerleau, a first-grade student at Winslow Elementary School, couldn’t hold back his excitement as he turned the page in his new book “Amazing Animal Families.”
“Whoa! Look at that,” Tucker said, as the new page unleashed a picture of a large coiled snake.
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His fellow first-grade students at Winslow Elementary School shared the boy’s enthusiasm over his new book.
Tucker was among the 75 Winslow first-graders who patiently listened to a story before being handed their own books to keep and take home.
About a half hour later, 85 Benton Elementary School first graders took part in the same type of event, with dozens of students flipping through the pages with unbridled excitement.
Over the past month, most of the roughly 14,000 first graders at Maine public schools have received a free book through a $10,000 grant from Read Across America, which is sponsored by the National Education Association.
In January, the national teachers union’s state affiliate, Maine Education Association, received the grant, which funded the purchase of about 1,000 copies of 14 different children’s books, ranging from fictional stories to educational books.
“What we wanted to do was continue to encourage kids to read at home,” said Lois Kilby-Chesley, president of MEA. “We know there are kids in Maine without home libraries so our idea was to get kids to start a library at home and read to family members or have family members read to them.”
The 14 books included “The Biggest Apple Ever” by Steven Kroll, “Bunny Money” by Stephen Krensky, “Just A Little Too Little” by Mercer Mayer and “Time For School, Mouse!” by Layra Numeroff. They were all bought at the Scholastic Books warehouse in Saco, Kilby-Chesley said.
Kilby-Chesley was at Benton Elementary School Thursday morning to read to the first-grade students before their books were handed out.
“Reading is very important,” Kilby-Chesley said to the first graders before she read them the book “There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!”
Kallie Richards, 7, a first-grade student at Benton Elementary had completed the grade-wide goal of reading 100 books this school year so long ago that she couldn’t remember when she achieved the milestone. She said she often reads to her parents at home.
“I have tons of favorite books, I can’t choose which one I like the most,” Richards said, adding that her favorite books are about animal. “I like reading different books. It’s fun.”
Because of the amount of books she has at home already, Richards said she was probably going to give the book she received Thursday to her friend on the bus.
The rise of educational tools based in technology for children has disconnected young students from learning in a more traditional sense — from a book.
“There are so many ways kids can get information now, that sometimes we forget one of the ways is to put a book in your hand and to read it,” Kilby-Chesley said. “We’re building a real culture of literacy and this was one of the things we could do to improve that.”
Darlene Armstrong, a first-grade teacher at Benton for 29 years, said that while technology has increased the way children can take in information, there’s no substitute for giving a first-grader a book.
“I love to be the one to open up the world for reading and writing for children,” Armstrong said. “Putting that book in their hands, there’s nothing like it.”
At such a young age, where students want to learn about what interests them, Armstrong said it’s important to capitalize on that interest and harness it to teach them other fundamental skills like reading and writing.
“You have to find what their interests are. If I have a student in my class interested in sports, then I’m going to find sports books that are on their level,” she sad. “They have very curious minds and they know so much more than we think they do. Once you hook them, it’s a lifelong skill they have.” There are just a couple more schools left to deliver the books to, Kilby-Chesley said, and MEA is planning on applying for the grant yearly.
“We’re hoping for the possibility to continue doing this,” she said. “We’re always working to improve the opportunity for kids.”
Jesse Scardina — 861-9239
Twitter: @jessescardina
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