First-Graders Get Davis’ Message on Reading
With a “chug chug” and a “puff puff,” Gov. Gray Davis read “The Little Engine That Could” to first-graders Thursday at an award-winning elementary school.
Continuing to campaign for his education reforms, Davis read aloud about the little engine that scaled the mountain to take food and toys to children.
As Davis spun the tale, 25 students at Bennett-Kew Elementary listened attentively. Afterward, talking about the lesson of the story, one girl said: Even when things look impossible, if you try, you can do it.
Many of the Inglewood Unified school’s children come from poor families, but its pupils score at about the 60th percentile nationally, which is about 30 points better than the Los Angeles County average on reading tests.
A total of $186 million in the governor’s proposed budget is dedicated to reading reforms, including summer reading academies, programs for non-English-reading students, and new materials for libraries.
Once the children had gone back to class, Davis issued a challenge to teachers, parents, and administrators. “All students can read, all teachers can do better and all principals can improve,” the governor said.
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