Week of reading activities
piques students’ interest
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — Students at the Wemrock Brook School recently celebrated the seventh annual Read Across America program and the 100th birthday of the late children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Principal Jacqueline Martin said that each day during the week from 1:30-1:45 p.m., the pupils dropped everything and read. Staff members had a chance to read in a neighboring classroom and sixth-graders were allowed to read to the fourth-graders.
Guest readers from the community came to the school to read to the children.
"The whole thing is about instilling the love of reading," Martin said. "No matter how old you are, people love to read to you. Even the people who are reading enjoy the day."
The weeklong program also included activities supervised by media specialist Esther Peck. The activities included a bookmark contest for students and Elect to Read, a program where students from each grade level voted for their favorite Dr. Seuss book.
In classrooms throughout the school, teachers selected reading-related activities using suggestions from the National Education Association’s Read Across America Web site.
Throughout the day on March 5, visitors read to pupils in about 30 classrooms.
"Did anyone see the movie ‘The Last Samurai’? " asked Ruth Jacobson, the principal of the Taylor Mills School who came to read to Jamie Kulak’s sixth grade class. "I came across this book called ‘The Samurai’s Daughter’ by Robert D. San Souci. The story takes place in Japan between the years 1185 and 1333."
Jacobson read, "Long ago on the east coast of Japan…"
The pupils’ response to the program was positive.
"I think it’s really great because it gives kids a chance to read more often, and a lot of kids don’t like to read," said sixth-grader Chelsea Thorsheim, 12. "It helps them learn to read."
Chelsea said it’s fun because the pupils get to read and to hear people read to them.
"The stories are nice and it’s fun," she said. "It’s great to be read to, and it’s a great experience."
Sixth-grader Gerard Balsamo, 11, agreed, saying, "It’s not that often that people read to us any more."
He said when children are younger, they like it when someone reads to them.
"Now that they’re older it’s fun having people reading to us," Gerard said. "It encourages kids to read more often. I like it, but it has to be an interesting book."
Gerard said the story he heard, "The Samurai’s Daughter," was very interesting.
"I hope we have this next year in seventh grade and in the eighth grade," he said.