CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) — The non-profit Be Your Own Hero Motivational Network brought in Ant-Man and local firefighters to help teach reading to first graders at Riverbank Elementary.
- Firefighters read "I Want to Be a Firefighter" to elementary students.
- Edward Clark, the founder of the non-profit, hosts these programs to help encourage children's literacy.
- Watch the video below to learn more about the program and how it brings fun and education together.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Reading is knowledge, and knowledge is power. That's why it's important to encourage reading in children.
Im Serena Davanzo, your Crawfordville neighborhood Reporter. Ant-Man and local first responders visited Riversink Elementary to help encourage reading.
"I love to read!"
That's Mrs. Temple's first-grade class, who had these heroes visit their classroom Monday morning. This visit was through the Be Your Own Hero Motivational Network's Read Like a Hero program.
The program was started by the man behind the mask, Edward Clark, who also struggled with reading at a young age.
"Reading was something I didn't love until my first-grade teacher, Miss Beltram," explained Edward Clark, the founder of Be Your Own Hero Motivational Network. "She found out that I love superheroes, and she actually compiled comic books for me with vocabulary, and that way, I learned vocabulary and also a love for heroes as well."
These programs help promote childhood literacy by bringing superheroes to the classroom, including local heroes like firefighters from the Wakulla Fire Rescue. The books and ladders program had fire rescue-themed games and read "I Want to Be a Firefighter" to students.
I asked first graders Justice and Reagan, "Was it a lot of fun?" to which they both replied with yes. Then I asked, "Can you tell me why it was a lot of fun?"
Justice responded with, "Because superheroes are the best!" Then Reagan added, "and we had a lot of fun playing with the games."
Clark says that including fun, active activities is a way to get kids to read without making them think they're reading.
According to the National Assessment Governing Board, in 2024, there was an average decrease in reading scores in 4th and 8th-grade students. Clark expressed the importance of literary education in kids.
"Literacy at an early age is pivotal. You develop faster. You learn things you didn't know quicker. You're able to pick up on vocabulary, which is a perfect thing. When you find out these words at an early age, you're able to develop quicker."
Clark says it's never too late to start reading to your kids, and he encourages everyone to do so.
In Crawfordville, Serena Davanzo, ABC 27
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