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Wednesday, 14 November 2007 |
 Melanie Schnippel reads to a fourth-grade class at Northridge Elementary School Tuesday during the school-wide pajama party for National Youth Reading Day. (Staff photo/ William Laney)
N’ridge hosts PJ party on national youth reading day
By ANDREA POTEET
Staff Writer
Second-grade student Makalia Sadler, dressed in pajama pants with “Sleepover” scrawled on them, sits on a rug in with her Northridge Elementary School classmates.
Sadler, who is also wearing an oversized T-shirt that read “Annoying the World: One Person at a Time,” looks ready to fall asleep as her eyelids droop while Wapakoneta Family YMCA Business Director Lisa Ådkins reads “How Will I Ever Sleep in This Bed?”
On Tuesday, students, teachers and community members dressed for bed during a pajama party to celebrate National Young Reader’s Day.
Community readers, including Wapakoneta Police Chief David Webb and Centennial Elementary Principal Wes Newland, read stories to the children throughout the day. Each class also took part in a read-a-thon, in which they received pledges for minutes of reading.
Northridge fourth-grade teacher Jean Rochelle and Literacy Coach Carrie Knoch co-organized the event in conjunction with Pizza Hut’s Book-It program.
Knoch said they designed the event to make reading fun for the students.
“It just gives us a chance to celebrate in a fun way something like reading,” said Knoch, clad in a T-shirt and plaid pajama pants with her hair in curlers, “It takes the focus off doing it because they have to and puts a fun spin on it. And we like to wear pajamas. We try to find one day a year to wear pajamas.”
Guest readers, including elementary, middle school, and high school principals, wore pajamas or opted to borrow one of the collection of robes available in the main office.
“We’re trying to have a wide range of people and get them familiar with their faces,” Rochelle said.
She said the event, which included a family reading night at 6 p.m. is aimed at encouraging parents to be involved in their children’s education and instill the importance of reading.
“It helps parents understand why we do things like our Accelerated Reader program, and take tests,” Rochelle said.
The program assigns point values to books and coordinates each book to a certain reading level to keep children reading on their level, Rochelle said.
The Family Reading Night, held at 6 p.m., included a Web cast of actor John Lithgow reading from his new children’s book “The Remarkable Farkle McBride,” the beginning of the school’s book fair, featuring Lithgow’s books, prizes including a copy of Lithgow’s book, bedtime baskets with blankets and pajamas and detergent or fabric softener, and an internet reading test in which students could earn prizes for their school.
Rochelle said the teachers and students enjoyed the chance to dress comfortably while promoting literacy.
“I’d wear my pajamas to school every day if I could,” Rochelle said with a laugh. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 15 November 2007 )
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