Toms River Campus Celebrates Dr. Seuss’s Birthday by Reading to Children
March 8, 2017, Toms River, NJ – Every year on March 2nd, The National Education Association celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday with ‘Read Across America Day,’ an event focused on encouraging children to read. American Institute’s Toms River campus takes part by organizing a special reading event for the children of students and staff.
“As educators, we recognize that reading impacts a child’s future success by building vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension,” said Shannon Arnold, Director of Career Services. “We are proud to support this effort in our Toms River community by bringing in children to our campus for a ‘reading corner’ featuring books by Dr. Seuss.”
Families of students and staff arrive to find the campus decorated with characters and quotes from Dr. Seuss’ books, with complimentary copies of his books handed out to the first ten children to arrive, and children also enjoy coloring activities and refreshments.
“This is always a fun event for the campus, because the children are so engaged,” said Ms. Arnold. “One young girl even climbed into my lap to help me tell the story!”
American Institute celebrates education at every level, and strives to create opportunities to connect with the community. Read Across America is a particularly popular event, because it allows students and faculty to share their love of reading with the next generation.
“We all grew up with Dr. Seuss,” said Campus President, Tim Rodgers. “Reading his books again is as much fun for us as it is for the children.”
Most of all, the adults enjoy watching the children respond to the stories. One young girl was so excited by the story that she jumped out of her seat and waved two balloons, while a very young baby surprised his mother by listening intently through the entire event.
“We love to get our students’ families involved in events here at the campus. The children are so excited about seeing the classrooms where their mom or dad is learning just like they do in their schools,” said Ms Arnold. “It reinforces the message that learning never has to stop, even if you’re grown!”