Handel ‘Reads Aloud’ at Alpharetta Daycare

publication date: Apr 21, 2008

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author/source: Jonathan Copsey / STAFF

By Jonathan Copsey / STAFF

Secretary of State Karen Handel read to the children of North Point Prep, in Alpharetta, for Georgia Reads Aloud Day, part of the Week of the Young Child.

The children of North Point Prep daycare and preschool were given a surprise present for Georgia Reads Aloud Day, which was April 16: Secretary of State Karen Handel came to read to them.

Moving from room to room and being mobbed by the little ankle-biters, Handel read several books to children of all ages at the school, including the governor’s book “Where is the Green Sheep?” She was pleasantly surprised to find that the children of the lottery-funded pre-K classes were more than willing to read her the book – all she had to do was turn the pages.

“Obviously reading is the foundation of being able to learn productively,” Handel said. “It’s a skill that a young person has to have not just when they’re young but for the rest of their lives. To really engage children in reading and make it fun and help them understand how important it is at the earliest possible stage is key.”

The owner of North Point Prep, Anita Feliciano, explained how Handel had come to the small school in Alpharetta.

“One of the parents who has brought his fourth child through here is really good friends with her, and we asked him and he asked her and she came out.”

North Point Prep has been in operation for 11 years and provides care for children ages six week to 12 years old with day care for the younger children and after school care for the older children.

Other books read by Handel during the visit were “It’s OK to be Different” and the ever-popular “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

“To bring attention to how important the pre-K programs are for the state and for young people to prepare them for learning is a very important task that we all need to be engaged in,” Handel said.

“There was no such thing as pre-k when I was growing up and you look at these kids in the sixth grade and how much they know, it blows me away,” she continued. “As a grownup it’s really unnerving, but at the same time it’s really exciting to see that the next generation has more skills and knows more. With the globalization of the whole world, our kids are going to have to be smarter and better thinkers in order to be competitive in this big marketplace.”

And it all comes from those first steps of learning to read.