Kindergarten students at Sale Elementary School are connecting with seniors at Arrington Retirement Home thanks to a grant written by Mississippi University for Women alumna Debbie McLaurin of Columbus.
The Generating Incredible Futures Through Storybooks (GIFTS) grant allows McLaurin’s kindergarten class to read books with the residents of the Arrington Retirement Home once a month.
Each child and resident is provided with a copy of the book to follow along while McLaurin reads. After the reading, the children and residents participate in a literacy extension activity, where they make arts and crafts based on the book they read that day.
“My class loves going to Arrington and remains excited several days later. I have parents tell me how thrilled they are by seeing their children excited about visiting a retirement home,” she said.
The residents keep the crafts they make and the children are allowed to keep the books to start their own library.
McLaurin said, “I strive to provide quality literature for the children, so they can have that in their homes. I want them to read good stories with good illustrations.”
She decided to write the grant while taking a graduate-level course, professional role of the educator, at MUW.
“The goal of this class is for candidates to learn and practice the skills needed to become effective leaders,” Dr. Monica Riley, chair of the MUW Department of Education, said. “In addition, we want our graduates to be change agents in the educational community, expand the capabilities of educators to understand the complexity of their educational work and to clarify their vision of potential contributions to its improvement.
“Debbie is an excellent candidate in our program and an excellent teacher,” Riley added. “The grant is an extension of her abilities and efforts to create the best learning opportunities for her students.”
McLaurin will earn her master’s degree in reading literacy this summer from MUW.
GIFTS is funded by the Roger F. Wicker Center for Creative Learning located on the MUW campus.
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