University students helped elementary school students set a new reading record. Over 150,000 children nationwide participated in Reading for the Record, which set the record for children reading the same book at the same time.
Setting the record is not the most important thing, University Jumpstart Coordinator Sarah Rude said, rather, the primary goal is to promote early literacy.
Students and volunteers partnered with Jumpstart to read the "Little Engine that Could" to as many preschoolers as possible.
Reading for the Record was part of a nationwide initiative to promote awareness about the importance of one-to-one reading as preparation for children entering kindergarten.
Jumpstart is an organization that operates nationally out of universities to establish programming at local preschools to build literacy and social skills.
Across the country there were 12,000 public registered events and University participants in Jumpstart worked at three local preschools in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, but not all the events were hosted by Jumpstart.
"People picked up the momentum of the event and wanted to do something special for the kids and their community," Rude said.
College Graduate student Tatiana Sainati volunteered to read to students because she felt it was important to show student how fun reading can be.
Getting children excited for reading sets them up for success when they enter school, Sainati said.
"Reading is a fundamental building block to learning," Sainati said. "If you can't read, you can't learn."
In order to fully engross the students, arts and crafts activities were planned as well. Children created their own Little Engines out of egg cartons.
Proving that you can learn something new every day, Sainati said the children used glue for the first time.
"It was their first foray into the exciting world of adhesives," Sainati said.
According to several participants their efforts paid off because the children showed great enthusiasm.
Sainati said the children became very involved in the story, asked questions and wrote their own versions.
Rude recounted one excited student who at the end of the reading exclaimed, "Can you read it again?"
Katie Rahm, senior director of external affairs for Jumpstart, said promoting early literacy is important because certain children can be behind even before kindergarten.
Rahm said children from low-income backgrounds receive only 25 hours of one-to-one reading prior to kindergarten while their upper-income peers receive over 2,000 hours.
"Some children are way behind even by the age of five," she said.
There is a bright spot in this "crisis" of "reading readiness," according to Rahm. Children who work with Jumpstart are 35 percent more likely to be ready for kindergarten than those that don't.
Since Jumpstart has been growing by 20 percent a year, the University chapter is taking all the momentum from today's event to get ready for the coming year. Rude is currently going through applications for students interested in getting involved, with the eventual goal of 47 corps members.
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