Cal State L.A. volunteers don ‘reading hats’ to share the love of reading to children on Dr. Seuss’ birthday

February 26, 2014

“You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.”

Los Angeles, CA -- The Educational Participation in Communities (EPIC) program at Cal State L.A. encourages children to “sink your teeth into a good book all year long”—and especially on Dr. Seuss’ 110th birthday.  

As part of the National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America festivities, teams of Cal State L.A. students will present fun-filled special events and motivational activities to bring the love of reading to schoolchildren on Friday, February 28, and Friday, March 7.

To motivate the kids to read, members of the Cal State L.A. community will also don “reading hats,” red-and-white striped stovepipe hats—just like the Cat’s—during the school’s book readings.

Throughout the year, 32 Cal State L.A. students tutor more than 300 children at four school sites through the University’s EPIC America Reads and Counts program. EPIC is part of the newly-established Center for Engagement, Service and the Public Good at Cal State L.A.

Launched in 1998 to promote reading and literacy while celebrating the March 2, 1904, birthday of Dr. Seuss (the pseudonym of author Theodore Seuss Geisel), the NEA’s Read Across America has become a national tradition.

The goal is to show America’s children the joy of reading and build a nation of readers. For more information NEA’s Read Across America, visit www.nea.org/readacross and www.readacrossamerica.org.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

Feb. 28

Kennedy Elementary (multipurpose room) 4010 E. Ramboz Drive, Los Angeles.

8:30-10:00 a.m.       Cal State L.A. student volunteers will read aloud Dr. Suess’ book, If I Ran A Circus, throughout various classrooms.

11:20 a.m.-noon      Cal State L.A.’s EPIC America Reads and Counts tutors to present a “Circus Fitness” activity to teach the children the importance of exercise and eating healthy. They will also present a “Seuss Monopoly” game, where the children will roll a dice in order to advance spaces and read cards related to Dr. Seuss’ books and the requirements of going to college.

March 7

Huntington Drive Elementary, 4435 N. Huntington Drive, Los Angeles

8-9:30 a.m.             A group of Cal State L.A. student volunteers will read aloud Dr. Seuss’ book, Green Eggs and Ham, throughout various classrooms.

10-11:30 a.m.          Cal State L.A.’s EPIC America Reads and Counts tutors to present the following activities: “Magic-Colored Milks,” “Healthy Eating” and “Team Fire Rangers.”

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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 230,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu

 

02/26/14