| Local organizers trying to reach over 5,000 Coweta students
On Thursday’s “Read for the Record”
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” will be introduced to a lot of new young fans this Thursday, October 8th, as volunteers read the beloved children’s story to Coweta County elementary school students throughout the day.
United Way of Coweta County and student interns with the Teacher Pipeline program are delivering 250 copies of Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to schools and daycare centers throughout this week, in preparation for Thursday’s “Read for the Record” event.
Thousands of schools, libraries and daycare center nationwide will participate in Read for the Record, in an attempt to break a world record by reading the same story to over 1 million children in one day.
Locally, the United Way provided the books, and they and interns with the Teacher Pipeline program – a high school through college teacher training program based at the Central Educational Center– are organizing Thursday’s literacy event.
Last year was the first year the United Way and the teacher interns organized a Coweta event, by donating copies of the children’s story “Corduroy” to schools and reading it to over 5,000 Coweta County children in one day.
“United Way in Coweta County is very excited to join Dr. Susan Mullins and CEC’s Teacher Pipeline again this year in Read for the Record,” said Paige Sport, Project Director of the local United Way office. “The event is tremendously empowering for children who actually participate in breaking a world record, in addition to sharing the same book at the same time with children from Asia to Africa to Australia.”
“Read for the Record represents an amazing opportunity for the entire community from preschoolers through retirees to join together in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of early childhood literacy,” said Sport.
The local United Way office has provided 10 copies of “Caterpillar” for each elementary school, and for several local private schools and daycare centers. Volunteers – including Pipeline interns, retired teachers and other community volunteers – will read the book at the schools, particularly to younger grades.
Dr. Susan Mullins – who heads up the Pipeline program – worked with interns Tuesday to sort out the books and begin delivering them.
Mullins said that Coweta County School System’s Future Educators Association Chapters in middle and high schools, and the McIntosh Trail Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa International, are also co-sponsoring Thursday’s event.
Read for the Record is organized each year to raise public awareness about the importance of childhood literacy. The event is a joint effort between Phi Delta Kappa International, its student organization Future Educators Association and local organizers across the nation and the world.
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