Classes from the Catherine Kolnaski Elementary School between pre-kindergarten and first grade were bussed into a new world of vibrant colors, excitement, and reading on March 3. The University of Connecticut's Avery Point Campus was the setting for the children as they walked into their castle: the Branford House Mansion, filled with decorative streamers, balloons, and large posters of Dr. Seuss characters to celebrate the National Education Association's 11th annual Read Across America day.
Avery Point's Community Outreach Coordinator Lisa Poole explained that the event commemorated the birthday of children's author Dr. Seuss and said the castle was decorated to resemble classic Dr. Seuss stories.
"I think it went great," Poole said. "It was much better this year compared to last year because we had just 250 students instead of trying to fit 400. But it went really well; nice and smooth. The kids loved it, of course, because they're 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds so they were so excited to be in the castle."
"I think it went fantastically," agreed Jude Ebbinghaus, remedial reading teacher of 33 years. "We made a few changes from last year's program. Last year we had pre-k through [grade] 5 but because of the Connecticut Mastery Test being given, we had to make it a smaller program. So we just had pre-k, [kindergarten] and [grade] 1 and it worked out. The kids were really excited about it. They were able to follow along very well. It was a much smaller scale of children and everything went so smoothly."
Ebbinghaus added that she believed Poole did a wonderful job, that the artwork decorating the different rooms was created by people at the college and that she was impressed by the different special leaders from the community who attended the event.
Poole said Groton City Mayor Dennis Popp and Groton Mayor Harry Watson showed support by reading children the different stories along with professors and local college volunteers.
"We did have Jonathan there and he's always a big hit because everyone that knows UConn knows
Jonathan," Poole continued, referring to the school's mascot, "and the Cat in the Hat was there too. They loved that and they all had their pictures taken which was great...We're going to give out all the pictures on a CD and give them to the school so they'll have them as a memory. Hopefully they can print them out and hang them in their classrooms."
Ebbinghaus said organizing reading incentives and special days like this event is part of her calling. She enjoyed having a college connect with an elementary school to work together to celebrate the national Read Across America day.
"It was just a great time where we were able to pull in the community and also expose the kids to a college campus...unless we expose them to the possibly of going to college someday, they might not ever get that exposure," Ebbinghaus said. "The weather was wonderful. Last year we had monsoons and heavy wind. It was really hard. Everything just fell into place beautifully this year."
She said many of the kids loved the demonstration done by Avery Point Department of Marine Sciences professors James and Patricia Kremer as they showed different live animals that can be found in the sea.
"There were lobsters and crabs...that was really nice," Ebbinghaus said. "They really had sea creatures. They did some teaching and as it turned out, our first grade are doing a unit about the sea and we'll be having field trips with the aquarium so this all tied together nicely."
Dominick Bassi, principal of Catherine Kolnaski Elementary School, said he wasn't able to attend the event but from all the reports he heard after the event, he knew it was very successful.
"It's important, at an early age, to show children the importance and the fun in reading," he said. "I think this is a very practical and easy way to do that. [Avery Point] brings the characters alive so that's a wonderful thing. All schools are trying to have kids read by grade 3...again having the characters come alive tickles the imagination of the children."
"We'll probably do the event the same for next year but a different school...Catherine Kolnaski has been there twice, once as Catherine Kolnaski and once as Eastern Point [Elementary School]," Poole said.
She believed the event relayed their theme of beginning to teach reading at an early age.
"You can't introduce higher education and help kids set goals too early," she said. "[The children] are going to remember this and talk about this for a long time. We want them to know that [college] is a goal that is affordable and doable for all."