Learning how to read isn’t limited to pencil, paper and books.
In Melanie Madkin’s world, learning to read can involve many forms of art that can get a young person singing, dancing and playing.
The key is to get children started early in the fun of reading, and that’s what Madkin plans to achieve with her free youth class “Come Read, Sing, Dance & Play With Me!” at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 S. Main St. Her once-a-month class will begin with a session from 11 a.m.-noon Feb. 3 and is open to children ages 2-6.
“That’s the age group that I find that needs help with early literacy,” said Madkin, a first-grade teacher at Friendship Aspire Academy Downtown, just across from the ASC.
“Some teachers noticed that some of the challenges were that some kids didn’t know the foundations, like the graphing, letter identification, and letter sounds.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Madkin wrote a proposal to Bethany Gere, public programs coordinator for the ARTx3 Campus — a convergence of the Arts & Science Center, ARTSpace on Main and ART WORKS on Main. Proposals can be submitted at artx3.org/class-proposal. Parents are asked to register at artx3.org/youth-classes, and then clicking on Class Registration Packet before their children attend.
“Our goal is to educate, entertain and engage, so this is part of our educate pillar,” Gere said. “I get all the proposals, take them and see what’s best for the Delta region, Pine Bluff, what’s in need and what we think we’ll have a good turnout for. The literacy really stuck out to me, because I was a school teacher. I taught K-12 music in the Woodlawn School District, and literacy is something that everybody needs help on. It’s one of the main foundations of all learning. You can’t learn anything if you can’t read it.”
Madkin’s class will be held inside the Creative Construction Zone, a classroom with a giant blackboard wall where youngsters can practice their writing, read age-level books, play with manipulatives such as Play-Doh and experience a small playroom of toys.
“Most kids learn better through fun play and engagement,” Madkin said. “With them being able to touch things and enjoy them, that reinforces learning.”
The class will also help Madkin learn what interests young children. If a kid, for example, is interested in trucks, she’ll try to find books that have trucks to engage them.
“Once you find something that interests them, then you can incorporate that into the reading and writing,” she explained. “Once they learn, ‘OK, finally, it’s something that I like’ and they’ll be able to associate it, then the love of reading and writing will mature.”
Different modes of learning, Gere said, are the best way young people can learn things, rather than just rote memorization or lecture-style classes.
That philosophy, she said, stood out in Madkin’s proposal.
“I wanted to change the narrative for Pine Bluff because some people look at Pine Bluff as just crime,” Madkin said.
“We have so much to offer here, so I wanted to find a positive for kids to come and enjoy themselves and learn. And eventually they can matriculate to the next program they have here.”
The ASC is open Tuesdays-Fridays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Creative Construction Zone is always open during those times.
Melanie Madkin congratulates kindergartner Cruz Gardner, 5, on his ability to write the letter L as pre-kindergartner Kaydence Scott, 4, tries it as well inside the Arts & Science Center’s Creative Construction Zone on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. Also looking on is Madkin’s daughter Cali Reed, 11. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)