city of Pensacola press release:
Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward joined officials, teachers, and students across the state yesterday in celebrating Florida Literacy Week by participating in a simultaneous reading of the book Hot Rod Hamster by Cynthia Lord. Hayward read to a prekindergarten class at Kinder-World in North Pensacola.
“Building reading and literacy skills at an early age is critical,†said Mayor Hayward. “Florida Literacy Week is a great opportunity to build and reinforce those skills in students across the state. The kids at Kinder-World were great, and I want to thank them for inviting me to read to them.â€
Teachers and officials across Florida, including City Councilman Andy Terhaar, also participated in the simultaneous reading. Hot Rod Hamster is an interactive read-aloud book that allows children to participate in the storytelling process.
Florida Literacy Week continues through Friday with programs in every school district. This year, Florida students in prekindergarten through 12th grade have been challenged to rack up 30 million minutes of reading during Literacy Week.