Andover Elementary School students represented all the colors of the rainbow during their Read Across America assembly.
Despite a snowy start to the morning, a rainbow appeared at Andover Elementary School today. The entire student body, from kindergarteners dressed in red to fifth graders in purple and sixth graders in pink, came together along with their teachers to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with reading.
The rainbow theme, inspired by the Dr. Seuss book My Many Colored Days, started at the beginning of February when students began posting the names of books they read to a bulletin board. Each grade level wrote their book titles on a different color of paper, and by the end of the month they achieved the school goal of completely filing the bulletin board with a rainbow.
On the school’s Rainbow of Reading bulletin board, each grade level posted the names of books they’d read in a different color.
To reward students for a successful month of reading, school principal John Briody fulfilled students’ request and sang a modified version of the popular “Let It Go,” from the movie Frozen at an all-school assembly. The school also held a book drive today, and Briody’s version of the song, “Read to Grow,” was a nod to the Connecticut charity that will receive students’ donations.
The fun- and reading-filled day also included green eggs and ham in the cafeteria, Drop Everything and Read − where students and educators went into the halls to read quietly together − and special readers in every classroom.
CEA Vice President Jeff Leake discussed Dr. Seuss’ “The Butter Battle Book” with fourth graders at Andover Elementary.
CEA Vice President Jeff Leake read to fourth graders in Dean Miller’s class. After reading Dr. Seuss’ The Butter Battle Book Leake asked the students what they thought the message of the book was.
“Someone may seem different, but they could be the same on the inside” one student said. “Just because someone is different you shouldn’t treat them worse,” responded another.
Kindergarten teacher Jennie Morrell said that students get a lot out of the school’s annual Read Across America celebration. In addition to the focus on reading, Morell said that the gift of Read Across America Day for her school is that “it ties us together as a community and gives us a common goal to focus on.”
“We don’t always have time to get together as a school,” said librarian Carol Zujewski. “It’s the sense of community and camaraderie among the students that makes the day really special.”
I loved reading this article. This was my elementary school! Great job.