Rockford school receives 400 bilingual books from Comcast

State Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, gives books to students at Fairview Early Childhood Center as part of the Comcast and Vme Kids/Santillana book giveaway. (Photo provided)

• Fairview Early Childhood Center one of five schools chosen nationwide

Online Staff Report

Comcast has partnered with Vme and Santillana to make a difference in a child’s learning experience by donating more than 400 bilingual English/Spanish reading materials to Fairview Early Childhood Center, 512 S. Fairview Ave., Rockford.

Local elected and school officials received the books from Comcast in the school’s gym March 11.

According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Spanish is the language of choice for an overwhelming 73 percent of students in U.S. schools studying a foreign language.

“Learning a second language to young children is linked to future achievement and overall success in schools,” said Darcy Dunn, Fairview Early Childhood Center principal. “We are grateful for this outstanding donation and partnership with Comcast, Vme and Santillana to help our children reach their potential.”

Fairview Early Childhood Center was identified as one of the five schools around the country that could benefit from this donation. One hundred seventy-five students will each receive two books that they will take home. Additional books will be donated to the school library. All the books are in Spanish and are kindergarten through third-grade level. The two books students will take home are Donde Viven lon Monstruos (Where the Wild Things Are) activity book and El SuperZorro (Fantastic Mr. Fox) activity book, while Donde Viven los Monstrous will be in the library.

Rockford Ald. Frank Beach (R), who represents the 10th Ward where Fairview Early Childhood Center is located, said: “We have participated with Comcast on a number of community events and anytime we can work together to improve the education of our children, it makes our partnership worth it.”

Joan Sage, government affairs manager at Comcast, added: “We are so pleased to be a part of this announcement. At Comcast, we take such great pride in giving back to the community in which we live and work. We are thrilled to be able to make this donation to an area whose resources are often limited.”

Santillana was founded in 1960 with the educational mission of providing teachers and students with innovative and high-quality instructional materials. Vme Kids is America’s first and only 24/7 channel to focus specifically on preschoolers for whom Spanish is the home language.

Posted March 13, 2013