Assemblyman Stirpe presents Excellence in Reading Certificates to area school children

Caption: Pictured is Assemblyman Stirpe presenting the certificates to children at Allen Road Elementary, Jacquelyn’s Home Daycare, and Tracy Bourdon Daycare.

Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D-North Syracuse) presented New York State Assembly Excellence in Reading Certificates to children at Allen Road Elementary in North Syracuse, Jacquelyn’s Home Daycare in North Syracuse and Tracy Bourdon Daycare in Minoa who participated in this year’s Assembly Summer Reading Challenge.

The Summer Reading Challenge, sponsored by Stirpe in cooperation with the New York State Library’s Statewide Summer Reading Program, is an annual challenge aimed at helping children and their parents pick up their reading habit. 143 children from across Stirpe’s Assembly District took a pledge to read for at least 15 minutes each day during the months of July and August, including 72 children from Allen Road Elementary, 11 children from Tracy Bourdon Daycare, 5 children from Jacquelyn’s Home Daycare, and 54 children from other schools and daycare centers.

Children who read for 40 days over the two month period qualified for Stirpe’s Excellence in Reading Certificate which he hands out annually in conjunction with the Reading Challenge. Students read from a suggested list provided by the New York State Library which included Two in the Wilderness by Sandra Weber, Cricket in Times Square by George Selden and How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell.

“With kids out of school, summer can be a lazy time of year but that doesn’t mean they should stop reading and learning,” Stirpe said. “The Summer Reading Challenge is a great opportunity for kids to get away from their computers, televisions and video game systems and get lost in a book. I congratulate all the kids who participated and encourage them to join me once again for next year’s challenge.”

Tracy Bourdon, owner of Tracy’s Daycare said, “Fostering a child’s reading can open up many doors towards their way in becoming a successful individual. As a daycare operator, I know firsthand that young children who read develop communication and critical thinking skills earlier than those who don’t. Reading improves speech, vocabulary, pronunciation and listening skills. The Excellence in Reading Certificates they receive show the kids that by reading they are accomplishing something really special.”

David Lunden, Principal of Allen Road Elementary said, “Research shows that one of the strongest indicators of future academic success is the ability to read on grade level by the end of 2nd grade. We believe very strongly that reading is ongoing and the best way to improve your abilities is to read all year. For this reason we decided to join with Assemblyman Stirpe and ask students to continue reading independently throughout the summer. We appreciate his program and the time he has taken to recognize and reward students for holding this as a priority during their summer vacation. It was great to have almost 20% of our student body complete his challenge and foster their love of reading all summer.”

Jacquelyn Kotary, owner of Jacquelyn’s Home Daycare said, “Studies have shown that children who continue to read during the summer perform better in school in the fall. Assemblyman Stirpe’s Reading Challenge begins a reading chain that will last for life and encourage kids to read on their own.”

Assemblyman Stirpe presents Excellence in Reading Certificates to area school children

M3P Media LLC © 2009