by Bea Peterson
You could have heard a pin drop in the HFCS auditorium Tuesday morning as the Laughing Couple shared an original Native folk tale with the students in grades three to six. Carolyn (Black) Hunt kept the youngsters spellbound telling her tale of black bear and grizzly bear, while Rick Hunt captivated them with the mural he created during the 35 minute story. That was followed by a question and answer time where the story was discussed and analyzed. The mural will remain on display at the school.
The performance was the first of many events planned for the month of March as part of the Parents As Reading Partners program going on throughout the elementary school. The program is a month long commitment of students and parents to read together five days a week for a length of time. For kindergarten through second grade, the commitment is ten minutes a night for five nights. Students in grades three through six need to read at least 20 minutes a night for five nights. Each Monday students turning in a signed slip noting that the required 50 or 100 minutes were met will receive a prize. During those reading minutes students may read to their parents, parents may read to the student or both parent and child can read silently in their own books. The ideal situation is for students to read to their parents. That may not always be possible. Children will still receive credit if they read with another adult or an older sibling.
On Tuesday the students celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with “Wacky Hair and Silly Sock Day.” Next week, the first full week of the program, which runs from March 7 to April 3, is Sports Week. Tuesday will be “Hat Day.” Thursday is “Panther Pride Day” with everyone wearing blue and white, and Friday is “Jersey Day.”
The following week is Music Week. Every Monday prizes will be awarded for those who have completed the necessary reading. On March 15, Tuesday, it will be “Read a Shirt Day.” On Thursday students will wear green for St. Patrick’s Day, and on Friday they will “Dress Like a Rock Star.”
March 21 begins “Fun In The Sun” week. On Wednesday, March 23, each grade will wear a Tropical Color. Friday will be “Tropical Day.” March 27 is “Fairy Tales” week that wraps up with “Pajama Day” on Wednesday, April 1. The final event is “Character Day” when students will dress as their favorite character.
Importance Of Reading
Out of school reading habits of students have shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.
Statistics
A survey by the Jenkins Group, an independent publishing services firm, has shown that millions of Americans never read another book after leaving school.
One third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
Forty-two percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
Eighty percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
Seventy percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
Fifty-seven percent of new books are not read to completion.