Reading month kicks off in Plains

by Ben Granderson/Valley Press
| February 13, 2015 6:09 PM

The month of February is, “I Love to Read Month,” at the Plains Elementary School. Throughout the month activities will be held at the elementary school to promote reading, which the school sees as a means to furthering a child’s knowledge, imagination and self development.

The theme this year is, “Under the Sea.” Students in kindergarten through sixth grade will be reading books in class that have a setting or plot about the sea. The faculty decorated the halls and classrooms with under the sea decorations to drive the theme home.

The third graders to sixth graders will then take accelerated tests based on the books. The tests are above their reading level, described teacher Denise Earhart, the teacher spearheading the program. The kindergarten students up to the second graders, will be given a free book at the end of the month.

To encourage the students to read more in addition to the assigned books, the students can get five points for every book they read. At 10 points the students get a sea picture in the library, at 20 they get to draw prizes from a fishbowl and at 50 points the students get five dollars off of a book at a book fair. For every five points the students get, their name will be put into a class drawing for a Kindle..

“We’re really just trying to promote reading, that is the big thing... getting kids excited about reading.” said Earhart, describing the school’s attempts at promoting reading.

Earhart told how the whole school is getting involved.The faculty or counselors go to the classrooms every Friday and read to the students. This past Friday, the principal and superintendent went to the different classes and read, told riddles and played music. “One had an octopus hat on and the other had a squid hat on...”, Earhart recounted jokingly.

The cafeteria has also been involved. Every Friday it cooks a meal that is sea themed. Last Friday, it was popcorn shrimp day.

At the end of the month, there will be a scholastic book fair held at the school, on March 5-6, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm and on the 7th, 10:00 am to 12 noon. The books that will be in the book fair will also be available online at scholastic.com/fair.