Dr. Edward L. Whigham Elementary School, 21545 SW 87 Ave. in Cutler Bay, conducted a special event for students’ fathers on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
Going beyond the usual “Take your child to school day,” the event focused on getting more dads to read aloud to their children, because many fewer dads than moms read to their children.
More than 100 dads read to their children’s classes during the “Real Men Read” event at Whigham and swchool principal Kathryn Guerra was pleased with the results of the special day.
“I am excited and pleased about the turnout for Dads Take Your Child to School Day and for our event Real Men Read,” Guerra said.
“Traditionally, the role of story reading has been the domain of the women in the house, but now we need to recognize the importance of male role models who can show our children that literacy is important for every member of the household. I truly appreciate all the fathers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins who came to our school today to read and be role models demonstrating that real men do read.”
Reading Specialist Marilu Bicknell in Glassboro, NJ, was concerned by statistics showing that young boys are more interested in sports than books, so she created a literacy program to foster a love of reading among male students. Bicknell created the Real Men Read Literacy Project at the Thomas E. Bowe Elementary School in Glassboro. The program has spread to other schools around the United States.
