Shafter joins Read Across America

The children at Community Action Partnership SLO celebrated Reading Across America by hosting guest readers who presented the children with different stories from Dr. Seuss.

Among the readers was [BEGIN ITAL]Shafter Press[END ITAL] Editor Jamie Stewart. Stewart read several books to the three different classes that were in the facility

Mary Garcia, director of CAPSLO, said that she enjoyed celebrating the event when she was with the CAPK. "I really wanted to keep the event at the forefront when it came to the importance of reading," said Garcia. "We had a lot of fun with the National Reading Across America event this year. We made big striped hats, read a lot of books and participated in a variety of activities that emphasized literacy and just reading for fun too.

The idea for the event came in 1997 from a task force at the National Education Association. They were looking for a way to motivate children to read. Motivating them is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers.

Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school. according to the NEA.

The first Read Across America took place in 1998. Each year schools, bookstores, libraries, hospitals and organizations pair to host Read Across America events and activities for communities throughout the country. In addition to celebrating reading, the event encourages kids to read more and develop habits that carry them through life.

The NEA reports that children who read or who are read to have advantages over their classmates and learn earlier on.

Children's book author Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel, started out his career publishing cartoons and came up with his first children's book in 1936. It was just less than two decades later that Seuss got the assignment to work on "The Cat in the Hat." The book was actually created from a list of 225 words given to Seuss by his publisher. The words were chosen due to their importance to children's learning, and the book was meant to be interesting for kids.

Schools that celebrate Read Across America take several books from Dr. Seuss and highlight them by reading them or taking ideas from them for fun activities.