Read Across America Pierce Terrace-style

Photo By Nathan Clinebelle | Maj. Gen. Jason E. Kelly, Fort Jackson commander, reads a book to Pierce Terrace Elementary School students during its ‘Goodnight School’ program.  

FORT JACKSON, SC, UNITED STATES

03.14.2024

Courtesy Story

Fort Jackson Public Affairs Office

By Lorraine Emory
Many schools, libraries, and reading groups hold annual celebrations for Read Across America in March.

Pierce Terrace Elementary School is one of them.

These events offer educators, parents, caregivers, and kids the tools and activities they require to continue reading 365 days a year. Pierce Terrace observed Read Across America the first week of March.

Read Across America is an annual program to encourage and raise awareness of reading.

This year’s theme is “Creating and Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers.” Children can learn from diverse stories about various viewpoints and how others feel and think. Some books are known for having fun, imaginative stories that often have cultural awareness and diversity themes. Kids can learn about other countries and get a bigger picture of the world by reading these books and participating in Read Across America.

People who read more often have better literacy rates. This program encourages every child in every town to celebrate reading. Read Across America is a significant event that helps improve reading skills, spark a love of reading, and unite kids and families.

Katy Schwartz, Pierce Terrace information specialist, said, “Read Across America is important to celebrate because it helps instill a lifelong love for reading within our students.”

Several events took place this week at the school. During daily lunch, a mystery reader reads a book behind the stage’s curtain while the screen projects the pages for the students to observe. While enjoying their meals, students listen to the story and wonder who the mystery reader for the day is. Schwartz took the consensus from the students before announcing the readers. Monday’s mystery reader was Natalie Nothnagel, PTES School Resource Officer. The rest of the week, faculty and staff participated while students guessed.

Teddy Tuesday invited students to bring their small plushie to read with flashlights. Better Together Wednesday immersed the students in multicultural books. Kendra Baker, the reading specialist, stated the goal for Tasteful Thursday was for students to explore different genres in the Starbooks Café. Schwartz and Baker organized the different genres for a book-tasting event, where students had the opportunity to explore snippets of Mocha Graphic Novels, Cappuccino Cookbooks, Frappuccino Fairytales, Java Joke Books, and I-Spy Lattes in rotating areas. The students finished their visit from the Starbooks Café with a PTES signature drink, the ‘Dragon Lemonade Refresher’, and a freshly baked cookie.

Robert Battey, school principal, said, “The ‘Starbooks’ was a huge success.”

Friendly Friday: Several individual Marines and ASoldiers stationed on Fort Jackson came into each classroom to read, promoting the necessity of reading.

Closing the event each night was Goodnight School, when the students were at home fixing to sleep, and someone read a story uploaded to the Pierce Terrace Elementary School Facebook page at a specific time.

Each night, a new person would introduce themselves, briefly discussing their role associated with Fort Jackson or PTES. Each person told the book’s title and illustrator before reading the book and ended by saying, “Goodnight, School.”

Read At home, “Book Bingo” was introduced this year; each student needed to read and complete the written objective to complete the task and claim the square. Five squares in a row wins. Each square varies from reading under the table to reading outside. By returning the card completed with a win and adult signature, students received a certificate of completion and a surprise gift on Friday.

“Planning a whole week’s worth of literacy activities can be time-consuming but is worth it when the students become immersed in the activity and begin to take their reading journey into their own hands,” Schwartz said.

To view the Goodnight School videos visit: www.facebook.com/dodeaPierceTerraceES.

• Date Taken: 03.14.2024
• Date Posted: 03.14.2024 09:24
• Story ID: 466174
• Location: FORT JACKSON, SC, US