DALLAS — For Jackson Sitkowski, Thursday morning was a great way to start the day in class. The second-grader in Carol Robbins’ room got to sit on a red carpet in the corner of the room and listen to a story.
“I like to read. A lot,” Jackson said. “And this story was good.”
Jackson was in one of the four second-grade classrooms at Dallas Elementary School where guest readers stopped in to read “Don’t Throw it to Mo,” by David A. Adler. It was part of the 23rd annual Community Reading Day, the result of cooperative efforts of the Greater Pittston and Greater Wilkes-Barre Chambers of Commerce.
“I liked the message, too,” said Jackson, a member of the DMAC age group swim teams at Dallas. He added proudly, “I listen to my coaches, too. And we won four championships.”
Ms. Robbins’ class got to interact with the reader, help to analyze the plot and give a lot of personal input to the story, thanks to reader, Erin Brennan, business professor and pre-law advisor at Penn State University’s Wilkes-Barre Campus.
“I’ve done this before,” Brennan said. “It’s always fun to be with kids this age. There’s so much energy in the room.”
Her earlier reading stints were in Lackawanna County when she worked in the legal field, she said.
For organizers at the Penn State campus, it was the first time they’d solicited readers from faculty and staff for the event, said Jane Ashton, the campus’ Director of Continuing Education.
“Community Reading Day makes sense to us as an educational institution which supports and promotes literacy,” Ashton said. “In the past, we may have had volunteers from our campus participate in Community Reading Day; however, they would have done it on their own. This year, we coordinated the volunteers from our campus.”
Penn State volunteers spent their mornings at elementary schools in both the Dallas and Lake-Lehman school districts.
Clearly, Brennan enjoyed her time with the children, Robbins said.
“Some readers spend five minutes reading the story. Some stay over that amount of time. And you can tell Erin put her homework in this project,” she said. “She did some teaching of the lesson that was in the book and she got the theme in.”
The bonus for Brennan was that her sister Ann joined the reading team. Although Ann has been in the English department at PSU for a decade, she was a rookie at reading to second-graders.
“I did a lot of rehearsing,” Ann Brennan said, reporting her nephews were her practice audience. “I’m hoping to nail it.”
According to the youngsters in Megan McAndrew’s class, she did just that. They gave their reader a “bit of applause” and said thanks. And they appreciated the follow-up word search puzzle she brought with her.
“The Chamber came up with the puzzle,” Ann Brennan said. “I just transported it here.”
Every year, Chamber organizers try to come up with a book that addresses issues youngsters might have to deal with, said Chamber member Rachel Olszewski, who also had fun with another second-grade group.
This year’s choice featured Mo, a smaller kid who plays football. Thanks to his mom, who has an innovative way of waking him up for school, a savvy coach who has a few trick plays up his sleeve – and a good understanding of the way young players think – and Mo’s teammates who cooperate with the game play, Mo manages to be the hero who makes the winning play.
The guest readers learned a lot about their audiences as well as just telling the story. The youngsters were eager to share their interests – sports, what teams they play on, how their moms wake them up in the morning, what foods they like to eat. Some of the guest readers also learned when the students would celebrate birthdays and whether they have pets.
And the books that arrived with the guest readers stayed with the students, to be added to each classroom’s library.
The visit made a difference for students of all interests, especially reading.
For second-grader, Brynlee Herron, it was just a break in the day.
“I really don’t like to read. And I don’t really read a lot,” she said. But she also noted that she likes to play softball and thought the lesson about paying attention to what the coach wants players to do was “a good one.”
But, for Ben Hodne, who likes to play baseball, the book was one he plans to read again.
“I like a lot of books,” he said. “I read a lot. And when I get to third grade, I want to get into the Accelerated Reading program. Books are great to read.”
