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Craig joins in on the biggest reading day for Little Rock students

There are 600 classrooms in Little Rock public elementary schools and on Tuesday, Nov. 13, every one of those classes had a visiting reader.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - There are 600 classrooms in Little Rock public elementary schools and on Tuesday, Nov. 13, every one of those classes had a visiting reader.

It was Jane Mendel Reading Day. The VIPS program named this day after the longtime public school volunteer and, like the legendary Mendel, hundreds of readers visited classrooms and libraries to read out loud.

Our own Craig O’Neill read to three second-grade classrooms at Watson Elementary. He was joined by Ron Watson (and no, the school wasn’t named after him). Ron is the founder of the 'Had 2 Graduate' movement. It’s an initiative that makes demands of public school children to not only “think” about graduation, but to plan on it.

Reading out loud fits right in with Ron’s calling. As if all that wasn’t enough, later the same day, every student was given a gift. Southwest Power Pool joined forces with Arvest Bank to buy every child in the Little Rock system a book centered around science (or STEM education).

For the younger grades, “Zoey Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows” and for the older grades, “Frank Einstein.”

A child brings home a book in hopes kids and families put those stories at the center of the week-longg Thanksgiving holiday.

Hundreds of books home for the holidays. Hundreds of readers. This was indeed a big day!

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