WORDS & PICTURES: Mary Lanzino
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The Early Learning Coalition of Manatee
County (ELC) has cultivated a program
focusing its efforts on improving the
literacy of the children in Manatee County. The
mission of the ELC is to prepare children during
their early years to give them the opportunity
and motivation to be successful in education
throughout their lives. The ELC’s “Every Child
a Reader” program has been designed to show
children that not only can reading be enjoyable,
but notable people in our communities are
concerned with literacy as well.
With the interest of childhood literacy in common,
the Bradenton Marauders and the ELC’s Every
Child a Reader program partnered to have
players and staff from the Marauders read
to children in our community. The Pittsburgh
Pirates organization encourages players and
staff to engage in community service whenever
the opportunity arises. Every Child a Reader
provided a book for each child and allowed the
reader to present it to the children before their
in-class reading allowing the children to follow
along with the book and ask questions.
The Bradenton Marauders had four
representatives read to the children at Nana’s
Pre-School Center and Learning Unlimited.
Drew Fischer, Bradenton Marauders pitcher,
had the opportunity to volunteer to read to a
kindergarten class at Learning Unlimited.
Drew was excited as he walked into a class
filled with 24 smiling kindergartners ready to
hear a story. Drew attended Amherst College
in Massachusetts, where he majored in English.
The first thing he had the children do was sit
around the colorful reading rug, so he could
tell the kids a little bit about himself. After his
introduction, he passed out all the books to
the students.
He then began reading the book - “The
Gruffalo”, written by Julia Donaldson and
Axel Scheffler and published in 1999 - to
the students. The book is about a terrifying
Gruffalo that meets a mouse. The mouse and
the Gruffalo walk together through the forest,
but every time someone sees the two, they run
away. Throughout the book, the brave mouse
convinces the Gruffalo that he is the reason all
the other creatures have been scared off. “The
Gruffalo” hints at the idea of perspective and
not judging a person by their exterior or first
impressions through a playful story.
As he read the book to the children, they
chimed in echoing the rhyming portions back at
Fischer. At the end of the reading, the children
went around the room and talked about parts
of the story they enjoyed. Drew closed out the
session by allowing the kids to ask questions
of any kind. Many of the kids inevitably asked
about his baseball career, but a few of the
children were interested in his education and
book interests, as well.
No matter the size, a lasting impression has
been left in a young life through the hour that
Drew dedicated to the kindergarten students
at Learning Unlimited. Just through reading
to a child, making it an exciting experience
and giving them a book, you too can change
their whole perspective on reading, which can
contribute to their success in furthering their
education.