Craig O'Neill is a news anchor for THV11 in Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition to his broadcasting responsibilities, the Arkansas State University graduate also champions children’s literacy through his program 'Craig's Reading Roadtrip.'
On February 26 Craig led a Dream Big Read Financial Education Experience at David O Dodd Elementary School to help Economics Arkansas and Sammy Rabbit kick off America Saves Week.
O’Neill provided students with a dynamic reading of Sammy’s Big Dream! The story book shares the challenges and choices children’s character Sammy Rabbit must confront and conquer in order make a dream vacation and class field trip come true, riding the world first outer space roller coaster.
Parents, teachers and community leaders understand it is a challenge teaching and talking to children about making smart money choices and developing great money habits.
That is the purpose of Dream Big Reads and Economics Arkansas Financial and Economics Education campaign – to make the challenge easier.
Read a-louds, sing a-longs, arts and crafts are all excellent and easy to execute strategies for turning what can be a dull and daunting subject like personal finance into a fun and engaging learning adventure. Craig O’Neill demonstrated that at David O. Dodd.
Economics Arkansas’s efforts and O’Neill’s Roadtrip paid immediate dividends. Monday, the elementary school Tweeted students are now reading Sammy's Big Dream on their own.
“That’s exactly what we want,” said Sam X Renick. “We want kids reading, learning and leading themselves and their peers in financial education experiences. We want them to develop great money habits so they can have bright futures and make lots of big dreams come true.”
The Mission
Have one million kids own, read and experience a Sammy's Big Dream Book by the end of 2020! We want kids to develop great money habits at an early age so they can have better and brighter futures!
Check out the week's activities!
Contact us now to schedule a Dream Big Read in your community!