CoServ Employees take a break from work for Read Across America
Students across North Texas were treated last week to an afternoon of stories told by co-op Employees to help celebrate and instill a love for reading.
Participants in the National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America initiative the past few years, CoServ Employees have traveled to numerous schools within the CoServ area to read to classes and donate books to the school’s libraries. For Employees unable to venture to the schools but who wish to volunteer, pre-taped readings are filmed at CoServ’s headquarters and then played alongside the rest of the volunteers.
“It was really good,” said Stephanie Grimes, a teacher at Pilot Point Elementary. “I think the kids really enjoyed it and we got to sit outside in the garden here.”
On a sunny afternoon at Pilot Point elementary, CoServ’s Energy Education team read to a class of third-graders on a sunny March day. It was the third class of the day. Alphonso Williams began with Margaret’s Unicorn, a tale of friendship between a young girl and a baby unicorn that mysteriously appears in her town. Williams then moved on to The Camping Trip, an endearing story about a girl’s first experience in the great outdoors.
Randy Copeland was next to present, following with The Playground Queen. The book teaches children how to deal with forms of social rejection by their peers by leaning on family and community. He also read The World Needs More Purple People by Kristen Bell.
Lastly, Justin Porterfield closed with Extra Yarn, the story of a young girl who discovers a box of colorful, seemingly endless yarn and sets about knitting all that she can imagine. From there, he moved to Have You Seen My Hat, a whimsical story of a boy searching for his hat and questioning various insects and animals he meets along the way.
“We each bring two books to read to multiple classes,” Randy said. “This morning Alphonso and I read [at another school] to the kindergarten and first-grade classes today.”
Over at Krum ISD, CoServ administrative assistant Kathy Gray read The Attack of the Underwear Dragon to Rebecca Chisholm’s class at the Krum Early Education Center. The book, a humorous tale of a brave knight’s assistant, Cole, and his battle against a fire-breathing dragon clad in tighty-whities.
“It was a blast, those kids were adorable,” Kathy said.
Kathy has read to students every year for Read Across America since CoServ first began partnering with the National Education Association.
CoServ is proud to help nurture a love for reading in children throughout our community and donates dozens of books each year to school libraries.
Read Across America is held on March 2 each year in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday.
If you’d like to schedule CoServ Employees to come out to your school for next year’s Read Across America or would like to learn about any of the other energy education programs that CoServ offers, visit CoServ.com/Presentations for more information.
