Children’s chatter filled the third floor reading gallery of the IUS Library on Saturday Jan. 16, during the Read Aloud program presented by IUS elementary education students.
Elementary education students taking the “Tradebooks in the Classroom” course got the opportunity to hone their skills during the monthly Read Aloud programs.
“We get to work with the kids and read aloud to them,” Carina McKinley, education elementary junior, said.
Two books were read to the six children who attended. This was followed by an activity of making snowmen from paper plates and buttons and making snowflakes from strings and beads.
The two books read were “Snowballs” by Lois Ehlert and “A Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats, following a winter theme the students planned for the program.
The program provides students with teaching essentials, such as actively planning and participating in reading to children and creating craft projects with them.
Barbara Thompson-Book, associate professor of elementary education, teaches the course and requires her students to plan and participate in at least one of the programs during the semester.
Thompson-Book said the program has been going for about three years.
“It’s a great experience for the students and the children,” Thompson-Book said.
Read Aloud programs are held monthly on Saturday afternoons, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the third floor reading gallery of the IUS Library.
This semester Read Aloud programs are scheduled for Feb. 13 and March 13.
It is a free event for parents and children. Recommended age groups are 3-year-olds to 10-year-olds.
Erin Treat, a mother who attended the Jan. 16 program, said she has attended almost all the Read Aloud programs with her two children — Taylor, 6, and Jordan, 3.
“My kids love doing the arts and crafts and the students work very well with them,” Treat said. “They look forward to coming.”
Thompson-Book has been supplementing the craft supplies and books given during the programs. Recently, Thompson-Book had been awarded an Improvement of Teaching grant for $610 by the Improvement of Teaching and Learning Committee of the Office of Academic Affairs.
“I’m going to purchase construction paper, scissors, glue, magnet tape, stickers and that sort of thing with the grant,” Thompson-Book said.
All faculty can apply for an Improvement of Teaching grant to support projects and learning modules for their students.
The Improvement of Learning Committee develops guidelines and policies for the grant, assesses applications and need by applicants and recommends grant recipients.
By LEAH TATE
Staff Writer
lmtate@ius.edu