Aleshia Flowers
Central Elementary celebrated Reading Week November 5th – 9th. The theme was designed to coincide with the national election by adopting the slogan “Vote for Books.” The week was full of an assortment of thrilling events to celebrate reading. The affair was coordinated by Mrs. April Aldridge, the school’s reading specialist.
Reading Week is designed to emphasize the importance of reading for success both as a student and in the future workplace. The children are also taught to relate reading to enjoyment through recreational and social activities.
Students were asked to dress in a new theme for every day of the week. The themes included, “Free to Read,” “Elect to Read,” and “Read to Succeed” to name a few.
One of the student’s favorite dress-up days lent them the opportunity to dress as their favorite book character; popular characters included “Elf on the Shelf,” “Fancy Nancy,” and “Junie B. Jones.” Students also had a blast wearing cozy pajamas, flaunting our nation’s colors, and supporting their favorite team by sporting jerseys.
Each day students participated in “Guess the Author.” Mrs. Richards, the school’s librarian, would read a clue to children in each class. The students would then guess the author’s name and victors were entered into a drawing to win McDonald’s Happy Meal coupons.
The winners were Tyler Holt, Skylar Oakley, Gaige Willems, Ryan Collier, Layne Medler, Chandler Shipp, Jayla Rudd, Adison Moore, Jacob Medler, Shelby Haynes, Ashlyn Cunningham, Carson Bell, Makenna Rodgers, Alex Fitzpatrick, Shelby Curran, Alex Townsend, and Clair Comfort.
Another incentive to read involved a competition between the classes. The classroom in each grade level that accumulated the most Accelerated Reading points during the week won a trip to Central’s School Store.
Every student in the winning class was allowed to select a free item of their choosing from the store. Ms. Strong’s classroom was the third grade winner, having acquired 110 points.
The fourth grade winner was Mrs. D. Warren’s classroom. Mrs. D. Warren’s students accumulated a total of 145 points. Lastly, Mrs. Allen’s classroom took the prize for the fifth grade having gained a total of 334 Accelerated Reading points by the end of the week.
Students also had the chance to show their creative side with by participating in a poster contest. The subject of the students’ art work was their favorite book and teachers displayed submissions outside the classroom for the other students and teachers to admire. Also, a variety of guest readers from the community visited the third through fifth grade classrooms to help impress the importance of reading. Finally, students boasted their internet skills by voting for their favorite book online.
Throughout the week, parents were encouraged to take time to read aloud with their student and discuss the content of the book they were reading together. It was also suggested that parents encourage Silent Sustained Reading (S.S.R.) at home just as the students do in their respective classrooms.
With the help of teachers, parents, and community volunteers alike, each component of the week concluded with flying colors! The faculty of Central Elementary helped guarantee that Reading Week was a wonderful success-ensuring that students enjoyed learning the significant, essential role reading will play in their everyday lives.
