Preschoolers Read Across America with Jumpstart
03/09/09

Nearly 100 Camden children in the Rutgers Early Childhood preschool were treated to a day of storytelling by Rutgers–Camden students as part of Jumpstart’s Read Across America Day on March 9th. 

The event, which was coordinated as part of National Reading Month, brought over 50 Jumpstart students and campus volunteers into Rutgers preschool classrooms at LEAP Academy University Charter School in Camden, where they took turns reading classic children’s stories to 90 pre-k students.  All of the books read during the event were donated as part of Jumpstart’s campus book drive, which has collected over 150 books so far and continues through March 27th. 

“Through events such as Read Across America Day and the book drive, we intend to raise awareness of the campus community about the importance and long-term benefits of early childhood education,” said Tatiana Poladko-Alleyne, Site Manager for Rutgers Jumpstart. 

“Simply reading a book to a child on a consistent basis can make a world of difference when it comes to a child’s abilities to read and write, their preparedness for learning, and perception of schooling.”

Courtney Neckonchuk, a junior English major at Rutgers–Camden and future elementary education teacher, is a team leader at Jumpstart and said that reading and working on-on-one with preschool students at events like this has a positive influence on them.  “It’s good to show [children] someone wants to take time out for them.  I think it shows that someone cares, appreciates, and takes time for them,” Courtney said. 

To support Read Across America Day, Poladko and her Jumpstart corps members created a campus book drive.  Beginning on February 23rd, Jumpstart began receiving donated books from students at Rutgers and from LEAP Academy teachers and libraries.  In less than two weeks the book drive collected 150 books, among them children’s classics like Dr. Seuss, Disney stories, and Scholastic Series books. 

“The response has been amazing,” said Jumpstart Volunteer Coordinator Morili Azeez, a freshman at Rutgers–Camden.  “The first week we thought we were getting five to ten books from the LEAP library, we got three boxes.  My mouth dropped.” 

 “The goal is to make sure every preschool child goes home with a book—or a second, or a third,” Morili said, and added that extra books will also be distributed amongst the six Rutgers preschool classrooms and will be used during Jumpstart’s daily sessions.

Since September, Jumpstart at Rutgers–Camden has provided one-on-one literacy training to preschool children in the Rutgers Early Childhood Literacy program (preschool) at LEAP Academy.  Jumpstart students have already seen the results in their preschool children. 

“As a team leader, I don’t work one-on-one with the children, but even I’ve noticed their improvement,” said Courtney, noting that the students have opened up socially and improved their speaking and writing skills as a result of the Jumpstart sessions. 

Rutgers Jumpstart concludes its 2008-09 programming in May but will return in the fall with a new class of corps members and preschoolers to work with.  In the meantime, Jumpstart is continuing its book drive collections until March 27th, and Morili said their goal is to reach 300 books.

“I think we’ll definitely reach that goal,” she said.  “And next year we might even go for four hundred.”

To donate books for the Jumpstart Book Drive contact Rutgers Jumpstart Site Manager Tatiana Poladko-Alleyne at (856) 225-6906 or poladko@camden.rutgers.edu.