Gables Mayor, Chamber President, Others Supporting Jumpstart’s “Read for the Record”

On October 2, 2008 from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., students across the country will read simultaneously from the same book in an effort to both bring attention to the importance of literacy and early childhood education and also break the world record for the largest shared reading experience.

Locally, associates from Hyatt Regency Coral Gables along with NBC 6 Anchor Jackie Nespral, Coral Gables Mayor Don Slesnick, President of the Coral Gables Chamber Mark Trowbridge and performers from The Actors’ Playhouse Theatre for Young Audiences cast of Wizard of Oz will be visiting Coral Gables Elementary to donate special edition copies of Read for the Record’s official campaign book, Corduroy, written by Don Freeman.

Having worked in the public education system, I am very familiar with Jumpstart and the Read for the Record campaign. I think it's a great project. The organization started this campaign "to bring at-risk preschool children and adults together through one-to-one relationships that focus on building literacy in combination with social and emotional readiness to build the vital literacy, social, and emotional skills children need to thrive." Jumpstart delivers a research-based, best practice curriculum to nearly 13,000 preschoolers in close to 70 communities across 20 states in America.

And to encourage online participation among adults and children worldwide, Penguin Young Readers Group is making an interactive online version of Corduroy in both English and Spanish available on the Internet. The digital version was created by Pearson’s Family Education Network and will be available by logging on to www.readfortherecord.org.

Like I said - great project; it's nice to see local companies activating their sponsorships in this way. Should be a fun event.