Archived feature articles

The importance of reading with a child

   "Read With A Child" is an education initiative that was launched in 2003 by Olene Walker when she was Utah's governor. The program encourages every Utahn to read aloud and tell stories to their children to help them develop a larger vocabulary, a longer attention span, better listening skills and establish a good reading foundation.
   In support of this endeavor, the Deseret News published several stories and activities for parents, teachers and others (found in the archived feature links below) to use with their children and students.
   In addition to the weekly articles, the paper published a special section spotlighting former governor Walker's goal of having 90 percent of Utah's children reading on or above grade level by the third grade. This special series can be downloaded as PDF files here:

 » A Legacy from Governor Olene Walker: Read With A Child — Jan. 19, 2005 (file size: 12 MB)
 » Cover (3 MB) » pages 2-5 (5 MB) » pages 6-7 (3 MB) » pages 8-12 (5 MB)

Important: You will need Adobe Reader to view and print out the PDF files.

  Archived features

 » Ming's Lantern Festival — The Sultan of Swat
 » A Whale of a Tale — Susan B. Anthony
 » Are crayons just for kids? — The hungry elf
 » The Wicked Wizard's Apprentice — The Birth of Basketball

 » The Boy and the Sheep — Harriet Tubman
 » Who Was King Arthur? — Marking Time
 » Rachel — Catch a leprechaun
 » The Mermaid's Scepter — Robert Frost
 » Elgin's Perfect Adventure — Aesop's Fables

 » Snakes Alive! — Spring forward, fall back
 » What's with the snowpack? — Thomas Jefferson
 » England's queen — Musing on emus
 » Cinco de Mayo — That is why …

 » Dinosaur — Florence Nightingale
 » Pickles — National Pickle Week — Lewis and Clark
 » Bruce Parry: Shining Example — The summer sizzle
 » Here's your paper, mister

 » A true champion — The Rose
 » The extra ham — Flag Day, June 14
 » Go fly a kite! — The Curious Ladybug
 » Helen Keller, role model for millions — The cicadas are here!
 » Oh! say can you see … ?

 » Black Feather Cliff — Fishing is hard work!
 » We all scream for ice cream! — A pioneer with two names
 » A pioneer tells her story
 » The Olympics and the Parthenon

 » Olympism: spirit of excellence
 » Olympic Diving
 » 2004 Olympians: Utah High School Alumni
 » Olympic medals, Olympic mascots