October 6: Read for the Record

Each year, the JumpStart Program partners with the Pearson Foundation on an event called Read for the Record. This day focuses on one book and encourages people across the nation to read it. For each book read, a book is donated. This year the featured book was Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney.

Mrs. Bentley participated in events at two schools. That morning she traveled to Hope Hull, Alabama to read with students at Pintlala Elementary. This school has students ranging from Pre-K to sixth grade. They met in the library and all of the students gathered around a rocking chair to listen to the First Lady share the story.

Later in the afternoon, Mrs. Bentley traveled to Prattville, Alabama to read to Prattville Kindergarten. There are five hundred students at the school. In order to read to all of them, the students were divided up into four groups and each group came to the library for the reading. This school took it a step further and even had a llama brought up to visit the students.

The First Lady enjoys promoting reading and spending time with children. She also appreciates the schools in Alabama for their creativity and diligence to make learning fun. She appreciates the opportunities she has to emphasize the importance of education and will continue to work to improve the lives of Alabamians while she is serving the state as First Lady.