Children encouraged to Read Across America
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Sponsored by the National Education Association, the event is the largest celebration of literacy in the United States. It was started in 1998 to promote reading among school children and to honor the birthday of Theodor Geisel, better known to the world as children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Local Read Across America events were spread throughout the week. On Friday, 4th District U.S. Congressman Lincoln Davis visited both West Elementary and Dibrell Elementary, where he read to students and talked with them about government and democracy.
At Warren County Middle School, educators took the name Read Across America literally as students were assigned to read books from all 50 states. A huge map of the U.S. was hung in the school’s main hallway which showed all the states and which home rooms were reading books by authors from certain states. This event was coordinated by eighth-grade teacher Regina Matheny and librarian Syd Prater.
In other activities, 50 high school students from Melba Clark’s advanced placement senior English classes traveled to the middle school and read to students during the school’s Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) time.
“These high-schoolers serve as such positive role models showing our students that even at the high school level reading is cool and reading is fun,” said middle school principal Donna Trevathan.
Similarly, about 20 middle school students read to fifth-grades classes at West Elementary and Hickory Creek Elementary. Afterward, the students presented the classrooms with books that had been purchased for the event.
Centertown Elementary’s observance of Read Across America involved quiet time reading and discussions of Geisel.