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91ÊÓÆµ Participated in One Book, Every Young Child Program

Posted on Tuesday, May 19, 2009

91ÊÓÆµ participated in Pennsylvania's One Book, Every Young Child program through 91ÊÓÆµ's Drinko Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

The program, in its fourth year, highlights the importance of early literacy development in preschoolers. There are 560,000 children in the targeted age group, many of whom are in the state's childcare facilities, Head Start programs, and licensed preschools or kindergartens.

The Drinko Center received 20 copies of this year's selection, Wendell and Florence Minor's If You Were a Penguin, as part of an AmeriCorps grant from PennSERVE and the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Drinko Center, in turn, distributed 14 of the books to students in the 91ÊÓÆµ Preschool Lab and six to children in the Walker Neighborhood House after-school program.

As part of the Preschool Lab's Week of the Young Child celebration, 91ÊÓÆµ President Dr. Richard H. Dorman read If You Were a Penguin to the preschool students.

The program is a collaboration of the Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Public Welfare; Children's Museum of Pittsburgh; Please Touch Museum; State Museum of Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Library Association; Pennsylvania Public Television Network; Pennsylvania Center for the Book; Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children; The Pennsylvania Child Care Association; PennSERVE; HSLC/Access PA; and Verizon.

The sponsoring agencies believe in strongly supporting early literacy efforts, according to Bethany South, who serves as PACC*VISTA for the Drinko Center. The agencies work together to develop a multi-faceted program accessible to all areas and populations of the state.

Through the program, adults with preschoolers learn to support the development of literacy in preschool children by reading aloud and sharing books, stories, and related activities that have been shown to be crucial to early learning.

Contact South at (724) 946-6194 or e-mail southba@westminster.edu for additional information. Visit for more information about PennSERVE.

President Dorman reading to 91ÊÓÆµ preschool students