Oh, the places you’ll go!
Indian Mills School celebrates Read Across America.
Indian Mills School celebrated Read Across America with four days filled with Dr. Seuss-inspired themes.
Starting on March 1, the students dressed in pajamas in honor of “The Sleep Book.” On March 4, students flaunted attire from places they’ve visited inspired by “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” On March 5, they wore red, white and black like “The Cat in the Hat.” They finished off their celebration on March 6 with “Wacky Wednesday.”
On March 1, students participated in a D.E.A.R. event where kids in pre-k through fourth grade Drop Everything and Read in the school hallways.
Sherry DuBoff, Response to Intervention teacher and member of the Read Across America committee explained the motive behind this initiative is simple: to encourage the students to take an interest in reading.
“The goals of the teachers and staff are to instill a love of reading and promote reading literacy across the grades,” DuBoff said. “We hope our students will embrace a lifelong love of reading.”
To get the students excited, two contests were introduced based around the reading initiative. The school launched a poster contest that allowed students to showcase their artistic abilities inspired by Dr. Seuss books.
In addition, students were able to participate in the Six Flags reading challenge, where students who read recreationally for more than six hours from December to February earned free admission to Six Flags Great Adventure.
A total of 82 students participated in this contest, with the top three readers logging 66, 41 and 40 hours: Madelyn Lambiase, Sophia Levy and Veronica Carney, respectively.
Each student has a different taste in genre. Lambiase immersed herself in Harry Potter books, Levy pursuing Judy Bloom books, and Carney explored fantasy and realistic fiction.
“I really love reading and it’s really fun to have a challenge to meet. It helps you learn. It’s fun to read what you like,” Carney said.
Levy said she was proud of herself for reading 41 hours and her favorite part of reading is being able to imagine herself in the story.
“I think it’s important to read,” Levy said. “My parents and grandparents always say to me, ‘make sure you always understand what you read because reading is the most important thing.’”
Like these students have done, IMS librarian Jen Babbitt encourages students to find an author or a series of books they enjoy reading. She said that by finding an author they connect with, they will be more likely to carry on their love of reading into adulthood.
“Students and families seem to be so busy these days, so I think it’s important to bring back the small things about just reading, the importance of reading and how reading is the grounds of everything they do in school,” Babbitt said.
At IMS, the fun didn’t stop at those contests. On “Wacky Wednesday,” Principal Nicole Moore introduced yet another contest — for the school to read 1,000 books by May.
Moore announced she will climb on the roof of the school while the students partake in a day of reading outside, if the students successfully complete this challenge … let the reading begin.
