Students promote preschool language, literacy skills in new Jumpstart event

Jumpstart, the University of Wisconsin–Madison program that pairs university students with preschool children to build school readiness skills, is sponsoring several “Read for the Record” events on Thursday, Oct. 2.

Campus, city and state leaders will read the book “Corduroy” to preschool children at sites around Madison to highlight the importance of books in the development of language skills. On Oct. 2, Jumpstart programs at universities around the country will be sponsoring events to promote early literacy in preschool children as part of “Read for the Record,” now in its third year.

“The availability of books in the home is a stronger predictor of later academic achievement than socioeconomic status,” says Robert San Juan, UW–Madison Jumpstart site manager. But on average, children in low-income communities have an average of two age-appropriate books in their homes, compared to an average of 54 titles in middle-income homes.

School of Human Ecology Dean Robin A. Douthitt will read at the Preschool Laboratory, 1440 Linden Drive, at 9:30 a.m., sharing the children’s classic story of a teddy bear that comes to life overnight in a department store. Other adults will read at various sites around Madison on Oct. 2:

• Madison Children’s Museum, 100 State St., from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
• Madison Central Library Children’s Reading Room, 201 West Mifflin St., from 3-4 p.m.
• South Madison Library, 2222 S. Park St., from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
• Meadowridge Library, 5740 Raymond Rd., from 4-5 p.m.

 

Jumpstart is a national early education organization that works toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. Through extraordinary attention in yearlong one-to-one relationships, Jumpstart inspires children to learn, adults to teach, families to get involved, and communities to progress together.

Headquartered in Boston, Jumpstart pairs 3,500 trained adults one-to-one with preschool children. During the 2007-2008 school year, Jumpstart served 13,000 children across 20 states, in partnership with 300 early learning centers and nearly 70 universities and colleges.