Students participate in Read Across America project

“National Read Across America Day” was March 2. Launched in 1998 by the National Education Association, it has come to be a well-established annual celebration in school districts across the nation. The idea is to celebrate reading by carving out a special time to motivate students to read. This event also happens to coincide with the birthday of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, whose stories and characters are sprinkled throughout the event.

In our district, many schools invite parents, community members, and/or staff to come and read to students for a brief window. In fact, I had the privilege of reading to a pre-school classroom of Sharon Douglas at our Los Niños Early Intervention site. My goodness, those precious little faces with their big, curious eyes, focused on the lilting rhymes of Dr. Seuss; it was a humbling, but wonderful experience.

At Yucca Middle School, teacher Vicki Guiffre’s gifted and talented students came up with a special project. Partnering with Parkview Elementary, the group of 25 or so eighth graders walked to Parkview to read to the elementary students.

Prior to the event, guided by Guiffre, they’d contacted the Parkview teachers and shared a “Google Docs” document (shared collaboratively online within our district platform) to communicate about books to read, times, other special associated activities, schedules, and so forth, so they’d be prepared when they arrived.

Interviewing Xochilt Garcia, president of the National Junior Honor Society, and Troy Richter, also a member, these bright, articulate students described their day.

“We have different committees in our meetings focused on community service, and this time the focus was on helping kids with reading,” Xochilt shared. The YMS team divided into two YMS students per elementary classroom.

Troy is a great reader himself, adding he has several apps on his phone, just for reading. He continued, “It was surprising how good the elementary kids were at listening, and it was a lot of fun being a friend to the little ones at recess, too.”

Both YMS students confirmed they wanted to bring what they’d learned back to their own school and maybe work with the sixth graders to “provide a different perspective on reading,” as Xochilt stated.

When I told these middle school students we would do an article about the experience, Troy, laughing, said, “Great! Our teacher will probably turn that article into another assignment for us!”

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at:

[email protected]