Special Education Teacher Reads to Children at Health Center Event, May 20

Special education teacher and veteran George Singleton will read to children at the next "Leaders are Readers" event at the North Chicago Health Center, 2215 14th Street in North Chicago. Readings will take place in both English and Spanish. Children will also receive free books from Words on Wheels and take part in fun activities. This free event is open to the public and will take place on Saturday, May 20, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

The Lake County Health Department launched the "Leaders are Readers" series in relation to its commitment to the 30 Million Words Initiative. The initiative encourages parents to read more to their children, since there is a direct correlation between early verbal experiences in childhood and later achievement.

Research shows that children who are not exposed to enough words during their first years of life often have vocabularies that are half the size of other children by age 3. This puts them at a disadvantage when they start school.

For more information, please send an email to: KSingleton-Reed@lakecountyil.gov.