Barbara Bush was on the campus of Texas A&M University on April 12 to help launch a new pre-school education partnership between the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum and the Malvern School.

The partnership utilizes several 1991 radio recordings of Bush reading popular children’s books coupled with lesson plans and activities developed by The Malvern School, and made available for use by the Bush Library and Museum for its on-site classroom and distance learning education programs.

The former first lady hosted the popular children’s radio show called, “Mrs. Bush’s Story Time,” with the simple goal of encouraging children to read aloud together.

The Malvern School, a private, pre-school headquartered in Pennsylvania, has re-launched Story Time by creating teaching packets that were implemented successfully in all 20 pre-schools, reaching more than 2,000 children.

Each lesson plan revolves around Bush reading five popular children’s books including, Arthur Meets the President and Corduroy. They provide teachers with innovative methods to teach children about reading fundamentals, as well as expose them to the depth of the stories in an effort to teach life lessons and basics like civics and American history. The teaching packets will be offered to schools and libraries across the country free-of-charge. In addition, the Bush Library and Museum Education Department’s classroom will host story time events, as well as utilize their online and distance learning capabilities.

Teaching packets can be downloaded from the Malvern School website at www.malvernschool.com/mrs-bushs-story-time.

For more information, visit bushlibrary.tamu.edu/storytime.