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Building the cornerstone of learning

By Julie Rausch

Reading is a major emphasis at Colvin Elementary, so much so that their motto is “the reading place.” This year the school started a program to invite professionals and other role models from the community, including WSU, to read to teams of students.

WSU basketball standout Jason Perez was one of the readers at the reading campaign’s kickoff which included a pep assembly where teams made up reading chants and teachers even did a dance to build students’ enthusiasm for the fun of reading, said Carla Heintz, teamleader for kindergarten and first grade students.

Volunteers, or “adopted readers,” like WSU’s Peter Zoller read to their assigned teams four times per year.

Zoller, associate professor of English and associate vice president for academic affairs, has read to his team of kindergartners twice this year. Most recently he read his copy of “Madeline” to the entranced 5 year olds. Afterward two youngsters gave him hugs. A novice in reading to children other than his own, Zoller said he agreed to become an adopted reader “because I believe in what Colvin School stands for.”

Zoller is also a member of the school’s site council comprising teachers, community members and parents who help chart a course for the school and monitor its performance.

“We think it’s wonderful how the community supports us and how WSU has supported us,” said Heintz. “We have adopted readers from various backgrounds and ethnicities. And we present the readers to the students as role models. We take that opportunity to tell students that successful readers make successful people. Our major emphasis is to encourage reading and to create excitement about reading.”

Kevin Collier, assistant principal at Colvin, said that reading is emphasized so much in the school’s curriculum because it’s the cornerstone of learning. There have been significant improvements this fall in Colvin students’ reading scores over last fall when the school’s baseline score was established, Collier said.

Peter Zoller reads his copy of “Madeline,”
a popular children’s story about a French girl
in boarding school, to kindergartners at Colvin
Elementary School.

Inside WSU is published by the Office of University Communications for Wichita State University faculty and staff on Fridays - with an exclusive online version every other Friday - during the fall and spring semesters. Items to be considered for publication should be sent to campus box 62 or amy.geiszler-jones@wichita.edu 10 days before publication.

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Amy Geiszler-Jones

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Matthew Hicks