Drawing inspiration from its annual musical production, the theme for this year’s Pick a Reading Partner program at Lockhart Elementary School was “Lions, Tigers and Books. Oh my!”
The seven-day program, from Jan. 29 through Feb. 6, featured an author visit, book fair, classroom reading challenges and spirit days. Planned in partnership with the PTA, the theme was selected based on “The Wizard of Oz” musical production that fourth and fifth graders are performing on Feb. 11 and 12. The mission was to get students excited about reading and remind them of the joy that comes from books.
PARP began with an evening kickoff event for students, families and staff that featured a book fair and literacy stations. From there, students were encouraged to read at home every night independently or with a partner and log their minutes. Collectively, the school well-exceeded its goal of 50,000 minutes, which was kept track on a bulletin board near in the main office.
During book reunion day, students in grades 1-5 visited their teacher from last year to hear them read their favorite stories. Kindergartners joined their fifth grade buddies.
Author Peter Catalanotto, known for the “Monkey & Robot” series along with his vibrant illustrations, visited the school on Feb. 4. Following books and bagels with some fifth graders, he then hosted a pair of assemblies in which he spoke about his professional journey and the writing process and did a drawing demonstration. Mr. Catalanotto closed out his visit with a writing workshop for fifth grade and helped students created vision boards with story ideas.
The “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” finale event on Feb. 5 and 6 saw the gymnasium transformed into a reading paradise. In keeping with the theme, one side was decorated like Kansas and the other side like Emerald City. Each grade level enjoyed a half hour of reading time, followed by a “Wizard of Oz” bingo game with a chance to win books.