University and elementary students read together for a new world record

Lipscomb University sent 14 students enrolled in the Books: Passport to Adventure class to David Lipscomb Campus Schools ' first grade classes last Thursday to help break a world record by reading a book about Ferdinand the bull in honor of Jumpstart’s annual National Read for the Record Day.

 

This year’s book was The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, published in 1936. The university students read the book to all 22 of the elementary classrooms and presented a book talk about bullfights and Spain.

 

Dr. Marcia Stewart and Dr. Candice McQueen of Lipscomb’s department of education teach the Passport to Adventure course, devoted to children’s literature, and worked with Jaimie Potts, first-grade teacher at David Lipscomb Elementary, to coordinate the “Read for the Record” on Thursday, Sept. 20.

 

“The purpose of that course is for our elementary education teaching students to see the significance of incorporating children’s literature in teaching. So the chance to actually read to children and do a book talk was a great opportunity for them to see the significance of the message books can send.” said McQueen. “We thought it was important for the elementary school children to see someone -- not a teacher, but a college student -- saying that literacy is important. That’s why we wanted to participate in Read for the Record Day.”

 

Jumpstart’s National Read for the Record Day is a national campaign in which the entire nation reads the same book aloud on the same day to set a new record for a community reading event.

 

According to the Jumpstart Website, the goal of this campaign is to help raise public awareness about significant disparities in early education. One third of America’s children arrive at their first day of school unprepared to learn, mainly because of early discrepancies in language acquisition and literary skills.

Jumpstart asked Americans to support opportunities in early education for all children by reading the official campaign book, The Story of Ferdinand, on Sept. 20, 2007 in order to break the record for the largest shared reading experience, which was set by 150,000 people on Aug. 24, 2006 during the opening year of Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign.

 

Jumpstart is a national nonprofit organization that engages preschool children from low-income communities in an intense early education program. The organization trains adult mentors, mainly college students, to work in year-long, one-on-one relationships with children to improve their language, literacy, and social skills. Thousands of Jumpstart mentors have helped more than 50,000 children from low-income communities around the country enter school ready to learn at grade level since 1993.

 

To find out more about Jumpstart, go to http://www.jstart.org/.