Program instills in tots a love of books

31.12.69

LEE -- Fa a dozen or so squirming little bodies and eyes distracted by every signal is no easy task when all you have is a book to entertain.

But Rosemarie Borsody excelled at reading David Shannon’s impression book, "Duck on a Bike," to a group of 3- to 5-year-olds in Lee Straightforward School’s Head Start program Tuesday morning.

Having a caller reader in the class is part of "Wee Read Berkshire County," a countywide hustle by the Berkshire Compact for Education designed to promote the importance of original childhood literacy and reading to children.

Borsody, the public services librarian at Lee Library, was skilful to engage her audience in a dialogue about topics ranging from ducks to bicycle helmet protection to library cards.

"This is awesome," said Lee Head Start fellow Carrie Sheldon, who runs the class with co-teacher Cindy Chevett and one's nearest advocate Sandy Monteleone, along with parent volunteers.

"If I would suggest one attitude to parents, it would be to read to your child every single day," Sheldon said.

Wee Presume from Berkshire County began its programming last week, creating opportunities for families to pore over together, by sponsoring community reading events and StoryWalks based on the "Shun on a Bike" book. StoryWalks are public displays of pages of one soft-cover spread out in an area where people can stroll along and read them.

In addition, schools, lass and family agencies and community centers have also sponsored special events as well as continual activities to help boost early education and literacy among children.

In Lee, for case, Head Start offers a "Bookbag" program through which children can to forgo out a bag of books to take home on Friday to read over the weekend and return on Monday. Borsody offers a Tuesday afterschool reading program with Addie, a trained German usher and therapy dog, and trainer, Kate Harding.

This week’s part of Wee Read Berkshire County also coincides with the

Source: Berkshire Eagle