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Irma Glaser reads to two children through the DJCL program.
Sixty Jewish volunteers brought
the energy and excitement of Dr.
Seuss to children in public schools
in Detroit and Oakland County in
celebration of March Is Reading
Month and the 100th birthday of
Dr. Seuss.
Volunteers from the Detroit
Jewish Coalition for Literacy
(DJCL), in partnership with the
Jewish Federation's Women's
Campaign and Education
Department, shared their love of
reading with pre-kindergarten
through third-grade classrooms in
nine area schools.
Sally. Jo Levine and Irma Glaser,
co-chairs of DJCL, along with
Miriam Seagle, Patty Shook,
Lillian Taub and Wendy Wilder,
were assigned to Schulze
Elementary in Detroit (which
Patty attended as a child).
The old school building has
been replaced at the original site
by a new, well-equipped structure
that has retained the same facade
of old.
Reading to a group of pre-
school and early elementary pro-
foundly hearing impaired students
was the highlight of Irma Glaser's
day. With the aid of an inter-
preter, two teachers and an assis-
tant, she shared Dr. Seuss's The
Foot Book with 12 children and
found that even after so many
years have passed, Dr. Seuss,
through his fanciful pictures and
use of rhyme, still provides a uni-
versal language that can be under-
stood by all.
Literacy is the number one goal
of Schulze teachers, parents and
paraprofessionals, Glaser said. It is
a goal shared by the DJCL, a pro-
gram of the Jewish Community
Council that is dedicated to pro-
viding volunteer reading tutors for
at-risk public school students. "It
is our Jewish community's
response to the U.S. Department
of Education's literacy initiative
known as the "America Reads
Challenge," said Glaser.
Mobilized are 400 volunteers
working at 37 schools in Detroit
and Oakland County with hun-
dreds of students in grades kinder-
garten through three. DJCL pro-
vided 4,000 books to children this
past year alone, many of whom
have never owned their own
books.
If you would be interested in
becoming a literacy volunteer,
contact Phyllis Jarvis, project
coordinator of the Detroit Jewish
Coalition for Literacy, (248) 642-
5393 or Jarvis@jfmd.org
6800 West Maple Road
On the JCC Campus • West Bloomfield
248.788.5300
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