Free books for kids from the United Way

Free books for kids from the United Way

Zach White

Dr. Suess' 107th birthday is Wednesday and kids around Havre will be celebrating.

A coalition of local groups, including the United Way of Hill County, Havre Public Schools, North Star Schools and the Student Education Association at Montana State University-Northern, are working this week to celebrate I Love to Read week.

"It's one of the activities that goes along with our Plant a Seed... Read project, " Lorraine Verploegen, executive director of the United Way, said. "We're just trying to get books into the hands of children. "

Starting on Wednesday, in honor of one of the most widely known and loved children's authors, the United Way will provide books to be distributed by college students in the SEA to every child from kindergarten to fifth grade, at Highland Park, Lincoln McKinley, Sunnyside and North Star elementary.

The books were purchased with funds collected from a few sources.

The Havre Parent Teacher Organization gave more than $2,500 to buy some of the books.

PTO President Kyndra Moore said that it's important to encourage children to read.

"We think it's a really great program because it gets kids started reading, " Moore said. "If they get a book they enjoy reading, maybe they'll expand out to reading other books. "

The United Way also got some funding through a Triangle Communications Community Vitality Grant.

With these funds, the United Way ordered enough books to give to every student in Havre Public and North Star elementary schools.

Northern students this week will go into the classrooms, read a book to the students and then hand the recently purchased books out to the kids.

Verploegen said that in her experience as a teacher, early reading skills were proven indicators of a student's later success, so encouraging children to read at this early stage is a vital investment in their academic future.

"One of our educational impact projects is to increase the high school graduation rates, " Verploegen said. "We can't just start during the junior year of high school. We need to start at the beginning, at birth. "

I Love to Read week is one of several programs the United Way participates in, including others to distribute books to pre-school students and day care providers and to give books to newborn children, so they can be read to and have strengthened the language-related parts of their developing brains during early formation.

But aside from the reasons derived from research-backed science, Verploegen said that reading is just fun.

"I love to read, so I love to pass that on. "

Dr. Suess' 107th birthday is Wednesday and kids around Havre will be celebrating.

A coalition of local groups, including the United Way of Hill County, Havre Public Schools, North Star Schools and the Student Education Association at Montana State University-Northern, are working this week to celebrate I Love to Read week.

"It's one of the activities that goes along with our Plant a Seed... Read project, " Lorraine Verploegen, executive director of the United Way, said. "We're just trying to get books into the hands of children. "

Starting on Wednesday, in honor of one of the most widely known and loved children's authors, the United Way will provide books to be distributed by college students in the SEA to every child from kindergarten to fifth grade, at Highland Park, Lincoln McKinley, Sunnyside and North Star elementary.

The books were purchased with funds collected from a few sources.

The Havre Parent Teacher Organization gave more than $2,500 to buy some of the books.

PTO President Kyndra Moore said that it's important to encourage children to read.

"We think it's a really great program because it gets kids started reading, " Moore said. "If they get a book they enjoy reading, maybe they'll expand out to reading other books. "

The United Way also got some funding through a Triangle Communications Community Vitality Grant.

With these funds, the United Way ordered enough books to give to every student in Havre Public and North Star elementary schools.

Northern students this week will go into the classrooms, read a book to the students and then hand the recently purchased books out to the kids.

Verploegen said that in her experience as a teacher, early reading skills were proven indicators of a student's later success, so encouraging children to read at this early stage is a vital investment in their academic future.

"One of our educational impact projects is to increase the high school graduation rates, " Verploegen said. "We can't just start during the junior year of high school. We need to start at the beginning, at birth. "

I Love to Read week is one of several programs the United Way participates in, including others to distribute books to pre-school students and day care providers and to give books to newborn children, so they can be read to and have strengthened the language-related parts of their developing brains during early formation.

But aside from the reasons derived from research-backed science, Verploegen said that reading is just fun.

"I love to read, so I love to pass that on. "