Read Across America Day is a national effort to encourage school children to read, promoted by the National Education Association.
Often tied in with Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat, Read Across America Day, scheduled for March 2 (Dr. Seuss' birthday) celebrates the fun and knowledge that can be found within books, similarly to how Dr. Seuss has made reading fun for generations of people.
Read Across America began in 1998 and focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources that are about everyone, for everyone, according to the NEA website. They encourage a variety of books by a variety of authors, noting that "readers who feel included, recognized, and a part of the world are engaged readers."
Garretson Elementary schedules a week of activities to celebrate Read Across America, which was held from Monday, February 27 to Friday, March 3.
"This year our theme was Dr. Seuss based," said Title I teacher Kim Maczewski. "It had been a few years since we had used the Dr. Seuss theme. Many children grow up on Dr. S books and will remember Sam I Am (Green Eggs & Ham) as one of the first books they read."
Along with the daily activities, students were encouraged to bring gently used books to school to be distributed to the Ronald McDonald House and the Foster Network.
"We collected over 300 books," said Macziewski. "That is so amazing. Thank you to all who made donations."
"Part of the fun every year is a week of special dress up days for students and staff," she continued. "We also planned one special event for each day."
On Monday, students celebrated "Many Colors Day," and were encouraged to wear as many colors as they could.
They had a bookmark contest, with Amelia (Kindergarten-Liester), Beau (Kindergarten-Nelson), Hudson (1st- Schroeder), Norah (1st- Williamson), Luciana (2nd-Nelson), Ailyn (2nd-Lentz), Quin (3rd-Backer), Weston (3-Hoefert-Veldhuizen), Kendra (4th-Etrheim), Lucy (4th-Stoterau), Lydia (5th-Ageson), and Cora (5th-Danforth) winning top billing.
Tuesday's theme was "Oh the Places You'll Go," and dressed as travelers or wore shirts from places they've been.
They filled out reading passports and read books about different places.
On Wednesday, students were encouraged to dress in mismatched clothing for the theme, "Wacky Wednesday." Each class experienced a teacher swap, where a teacher from another class came in to read a story.
Thursday was pajama day for "The Sleep Book." Elementary students joined High School and Middle School students in the gym for a Read-a-thon that afternoon, where they all traded off reading to each other for a half hour.
Friday was "Cat in the Hat" day, and students were able to wear hats to school. Each classroom celebrated with different events.
To top off the fun, a new Dr. Seuss quote was read each day, and the students had to guess what book it came from.
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." - Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1921-1990.
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