School-wide 'relay gets Washington Oak reading

04/30/2007

School-wide 'relay' gets Washington Oak reading

Amanda K. Lowe , Daily Times

COVENTRY - Students at Washington Oak Elementary school recently took part in a relay that did not involve any running.

It was a reading relay, but it still included the hallmark of relays - passing a baton. All week, during Reading Week, a baton was passed from class to class. If the baton was outside a classroom door, the class was required to read until it passed the baton to another classroom.

"The relay was fun," said Brooke Taylor, a fourth-grader at Washington Oak. "It was like a race but we didn't have to do anything except read. We got to read a lot of different books during the relay."

The reading relay was one of many activities Washington Oak students participated in to celebrate Reading Week.

"We did a number of things as a whole school," said Lynn McDonald, a librarian at Washington Oak School. "Every morning we had first line story times in which I read the beginning of a book, the first couple of sentences or paragraphs and the students had to guess what book it was. I also set up a book buffet in the library."

For the book buffet, different books were set up all over the library and students went around and read books for eight minutes each. When the time was up, they picked other books, McDonald said.

"It was a great way to promote checking out different books," she said. "A lot of times students will read similar types or genres of books and this helped them broaden their taste and find something different they may like."

Students in first, second, and third grades also completed a special service learning project for Reading Week. The students made birthday cards for the Cat in the Hat's 50th birthday.

"We sent the cards to the 'Cat in the Hat's' publishing company - Random House -and for every card they received they gave one book to an underprivileged child," McDonald said. "It was a really great project for the kids because a lot of them didn't realize there are kids without books. Even kids who can't afford books can go to the library and take them out but there are some kids that don't even have access to a library. It was a good lesson for the kids to learn."

"Reading Week was very good," said Alexa Mayer, a fourth-grader. "We sat down for 15 minutes every day and I really like reading so it was good."

McDonald said Reading Week is good for the students because not only do they enjoy it, but it teaches them valuable life lessons.

It gets kids interested in all different types of reading materials," McDonald said. "It teaches children that reading is not only about reading a book. If you are driving, cooking, working, or playing a game you need to be able to read. You need to read to do everything."

Today, students at Oak Haven Elementary School will also be celebrating the importance of reading.

"The students will have a big culmination of Reading Week," said Principal Kathleen Miner. "They will be getting certificates for their accomplishments during Reading Week and they will have a parade."

Throughout the week, students at Oak Haven completed reading tasks and were awarded badges for each task completed. The students put the badges on sashes and will parade through the school to show their accomplishments, Miner said.