Carolina Panthers ‘Sir Purr’ Helping Local Kids With Reading
I’ve mentioned before that I went into teaching briefly. I taught 7th grade ELA at a Title One school in Gastonia. Maybe it’s because I don’t have kids or am around lots of kids, but it was shocking to me the number of kids that could not read on their grade level. I had 7th graders on a 2nd grade reading level. I was aghast! I won’t get on my soap box about the number of kids, especially in Title One schools, that are not receiving the proper skills. But I will say that reading is extremely important, as is helping kids with their reading skills.
According to WCCB, the Carolina Panthers, Bank of America, and CMS are teaming up to launch a 3rd grade reading program. The program will be supporting reading development in 70 CMS schools. And to make kids interested, the Panther’s mascot ‘Sir Purr’ is stepping up.
Sir Purr’s Pawsome Readers is part of the football team’s ‘3rd & Goal’ initiative supporting achievement of grade level reading proficiencies of young readers. Such a GREAT idea! Reading incentives will be given to each participating classroom to support the program. In addition, a special end-of-year celebration will be provided for top performing schools.
How To Help Kids Enjoy Reading
Years ago, a good friend of mine found out her son was reading way below his grade level. At the time her son really enjoyed cooking. I told her to get him to read cookbooks! Usually prior to recipes, there’s some copy about how the recipe was invented or where it came from. Not the most conventional idea, but it worked. And I think that’s important when it comes to kid’s reading. They need to be interested in the subject matter.
I was one of those kids that enjoyed reading and did it a ton as a kid. I was a big Judy Blume fan, a fan of J.R. R. Tolkien, and I also liked Nancy Drew books. As I got older, I liked reading the romance novels my stepmom read. She was a fan of Danielle Steele. Majoring in English in college was an easy decision for me since reading and writing were things I enjoyed.
If your child is not a huge reader, try books about subjects they enjoy. It doesn’t matter if it’s about rocks, sports, cooking or animals. Reading about things they enjoy will make them enjoy reading. It will be easier for them to read other things once they master reading. When I was teaching, I never gave homework. Personally, I think kids have way too much of it! All I required was that each kid read for 20 minutes. It could be a book, the paper, or a magazine, as long as they read. I’d have them keep a journal of what they read. I’d check it often and their parents had to initial it every night.
I’m hoping this new program with Sir Purr will encourage kids to read. Incentives always help!
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