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Campus & Community

School of Education, Athletics, Driver鈥檚 Village Support Otto鈥檚 Reading Kickoff for Local Schools

Tuesday, January 3, 2017, By Jennifer Russo
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AthleticsSchool of Education

Otto, the 黑料不打烊 mascot, doesn鈥檛 speak, so it may be difficult to assess how well Otto can read.

But Otto clearly recognizes the value of reading, and a December 2016 visit to Ed Smith Elementary School in 黑料不打烊 thrilled the third- and fourth-graders who had scored the highest participation rate in Otto鈥檚 Fall Reading Kickoff. The (SOE), SU Athletics and Driver鈥檚 Village in Cicero organized the reading program.

Otto and students at Ed Smith School

Otto helps third-and fourth-graders and Ed Smith School celebrate reading.

鈥淪ome of the fourth-graders who thought they were too cool to get excited about meeting Otto ended up being very excited,鈥 says Gerri Berish 鈥87 G鈥89, a fourth-grade teacher at Ed Smith. 鈥淗e was very playful, and kids loved getting hugs from him.鈥

The SOE invited schools to participate in the one-month program. Students would read at least 20 minutes every night and complete a weekly summary of what they read. They filled out paper footballs to track how much they read and posted the footballs on their lockers and in classrooms.

Otto, photographers from cuse.com and officials from Driver鈥檚 Village visited to celebrate Ed Smith鈥檚 success and reinforce the importance of reading.

鈥淎 couple of students asked me why Otto was visiting and there were all the cameras,鈥 Berish says. 鈥淚 told them it was because they participated in the reading challenge. And they asked, 鈥榊ou mean it鈥檚 because we read?鈥 And I told them, 鈥榊es, because you read.鈥欌

Teaching reading is challenging, Berish says.聽 鈥淪tudents have different reading abilities. We have students who are very below level all the way to students who are reading at high school levels,鈥 she says.

鈥淲e also see that our students have very different experiences that lead to these levels鈥濃攆rom homes that encourage reading to homes that don鈥檛 to special needs students to immigrant students just learning English.

All but a few of the Ed Smith third- and fourth-graders participated.

鈥淜ids could read whatever they wanted. They read according to their abilities. We have some students reading picture books and others reading 500-page books,鈥 Berish says. A third-grader read the most鈥2,500 minutes.

SU Athletics provided free tickets for students to the Florida State football game in November. Family members and school staff received discounted tickets. Driver鈥檚 Village presented a $1,000 DonorsChoose.com gift card to the school.

鈥淥ne of the goals of our partnership with SU Athletics was to create an engaging, educational incentive for 黑料不打烊 schools.聽Otto鈥檚 reading program exceeded our expectations, and we were proud to offer a prize to the top school, helping them to purchase the tools necessary to facilitate their students鈥 reading,鈥 says Ken Ellender, a marketing specialist at Driver鈥檚 Village.

With the gift card the school will purchase 15 Amazon Fire tablets and headphones and two charging ports.

Berish says a key concern is the needs of English as a New Language (ENL) students.

鈥淪ome students come from places where they did not have many of the same materials we take for granted here, and some had a very limited educational experience before moving here. So having students with little to no English, it is very hard to teach them higher concepts when they cannot visualize some basic places or objects.鈥

She teaches content subjects that involve much writing, in paragraphs and essays. She envisions the ENL students using tablets with programs that teach basic concepts, while higher-level students, who finish assignments quickly, use tablets to conduct research or use an app that challenges them.

The attention Otto paid the school emphasized the value of reading.

鈥淔or some students, I think they saw that reading is highly valued. It is not just something that the teachers say they need. For the students who are voracious readers, I think it just confirmed what they already knew, that reading is important,鈥 Berish says.

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Jennifer Russo

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