Maine Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Dan Chuhta visited two schools last week to participate in the Read to ME Challenge. His first stop was at Sacopee Valley Middle School, where he visited Mrs. Bryant’s 4th grade class of young mathematicians and scientists who shared all they knew about geometry, astronomy, space travel, and even the seasons. Chuhta read A Computer Called Katherine written by Suzanne Slade and illustrated by Veronica Miller Jamison, that tells the remarkable and true story of Katherine Johnson and her pioneering work at NASA.
He next travelled to Bonny Eagle Middle School, where he met the talented writers and scholars in Mrs. Deering’s 6th grade classroom. While there, he read two student written stories found in the outstanding anthology Shadowboxing, published by the Portland-based nonprofit organization, The Telling Room.
The Read to ME Challenge is month-long public awareness campaign to promote the importance of literacy for all of Maine’s students, regardless of age. The challenge encourages adults to read to children for 15 minutes, capture that moment via a photo or a video, and then post it to social media and challenge others to do the same using the hashtag #ReadtoME.
Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin launched the Read to ME challenge earlier this month with second graders at Solon Elementary School, and educators, parents, and families across the state continue to post about their reading adventures. There’s still plenty of time this month to grab a favorite book to read aloud to a young person and share as part of the Read to ME challenge.