Read Across America

         “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
                                                                      The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”                                                                                                                                                   Dr. Seuss

On Monday, March 3^rd, SHARP schools, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) and Mayor Tom Barrett celebrated Read Across America in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.  Milwaukee police officers visited 22 SHARP schools throughout Milwaukee to read to our students.  Mayor Tom Barrett and Captain Pierce of the MPD were special guests in the celebration at one SHARP school, Business and Economics Academy of Milwaukee (BEAM).  The mayor read from SHARP’s student researched book Pat the Great Cat: A Jaguar’s Journey, and Captain Pierce read from Yertle the Turtle.

Read Across America is more than a birthday party, though; it is a celebration of literacy and education.  It is an established fact that the ability to read paves the way for future success.  The event on Monday was a huge success as students all around Milwaukee showed their enthusiasm and excitement for reading, encouraged by SHARP, the Milwaukee Police Department, and Mayor Barrett.

It is SHARP’s mission to encourage strong, capable readers, writers, and researchers, thus inspiring students to learn.

It was truly fascinating to see our mission in action as part of Read Across America.  The SHARP program along with the educators, the support of the donors, and leadership of the board is opening doors for our students.  For all this important support for our students, we are extremely grateful.

A SHARP Lesson

Last week, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a SHARP lesson in the 2^nd grade classroom at Blessed Sacrament School.  The teacher was Litza J, who has been using the SHARP program in her classroom for 18 years.  Observing Litza with her students was truly inspirational. Not only did she make her job look easy and fun, but her students were 100% engaged in what they were learning. 

I was not observing a SHARP in-school presentation, but rather the “everyday” SHARP lesson.  The SHARP program is designed so that teachers are easily able to integrate the curriculum into their lesson plan.  In some cases, SHARP is the entire curriculum, while in other cases it is used as a supplement.  It is a real joy to see the unique and creative ways teachers are able to use the SHARP program in the classroom.


As Litza announced it was SHARP time, the students cheered and quickly gathered together. Litza held up several different visuals and discussed them with her students.  Litza had the students pretend they were junior docents at the museum as they talked about the images.

I was very impressed as the students talked about “Sunny the Dog”-they knew it was considered a portrait and the artist was Alex Katz.  They also discussed a “landscape” image and were able to name the different types of clouds.   Do you know the difference between a stratus and a cumulonimbus cloud?  Watch the video here!

SHARP is grateful for Litza and all our SHARP educators.  It goes without saying that what our teachers are able to do in their classrooms and the differences they are making are incomparable. During my visit to Blessed Sacrament, I was joined by Dori Zori from 88Nine Radio Milwaukee.  Click here to learn about Dori’s experience with SHARP, Litza and our students.