Reading to children enchanting experience

Recently, there was a great deal of reading taking place throughout the district. Doesn’t that always happen, one might ask. Of course. However, the recent increase was due to “Read Across America.”

Back in the late 1990s, the NEA (National Education Association) wanted to come up with a special day to specifically celebrate reading, so “Read Across America” was born. Technically held on the Dr. Seuss’s birthday (March 2), the event has grown and expanded to weeks and even longer in which schools celebrate reading.

The idea is to help motivate children to read by involving others in the process. For example, parents, community members, and others are invited into the classroom to read aloud one of their own favorite childhood books. Observing adults sharing a well-loved childhood book helps motivate students to become better readers. Becoming better readers contributes to ensuring academic success. Aside from the pleasure reading can bring, the other extreme is the correlation between low literacy and incarceration rates.

The Clovis Schools enthusiastically participated, especially our elementary schools. Zia began the day with a “Parade of Characters” with the entire school participating. Teachers and students alike dressed up as their favorite story characters, with each grade level showcasing a theme: kindergarten chose “Snow White;” first grade, “Winnie the Pooh.” Zia’s second grade celebrated superheroes; the third grade, crayons for a book favorite, “The Day the Crayons Came Home;“ and so forth.

Zia’s students spent the day rotating reading styles: reading under their desks, on top, with a flashlight, reading on the playground, in the halls, with a pillow and stuffed animal, and more. Parents coming in to read aloud was a special treat.

Parkview Elementary invited a wide range of volunteer readers, too; parents, professors from ENMU, personnel from Cannon Air Force Base, and more. One adult dressed up as Dr. Seuss’s “Cat in the Hat” and spent the day traveling from school to school reading aloud Seuss’s delightful writings.

I also had the privilege of reading to Parkview’s second graders and learned something. I was initially concerned with the language and length of my choice, “The Velveteen Rabbit.” Written by English author, Margery Williams, and published in 1922, the old-fashioned writing might have been daunting for younger children. However, Jana Wornell’s second graders listened enrapt, wonderfully attentive throughout.

What did I learn? Never pass up the enchanting experience of reading aloud to a child.

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the instructional technology coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at: [email protected]