Students at Tooker Avenue Elementary School showed they really rock when it comes to reading during the school’s Pick a Reading Partner initiative held March 4-15. Sponsored by the school’s Parent-Teacher Association, this year’s theme was “Reading Rockstars.”
The “Battle of the Bands” celebration began with each class represented by the name of a different rock band. Students earned points for their bands by reading a certain number of minutes outside of school during the two-week program. Each evening, the students recorded how many minutes they spent reading. For every 30 minutes, the students earned 10 points toward their class total.
Students also had the chance to earn bonus points by completing the “high notes” activity sheet. Some of the 3-point bonus activities included reading a recipe and cooking with someone, building a fort and reading in it, reading about their favorite music star, reading with a friend or neighbor, reading with someone on the phone or FaceTime, reading the lyrics from their favorite song and reading as a family.
“The goal of PARP is to really get the parents, PTA and community involved,” said Barbara Kalinowski, Tooker kindergarten teacher who worked with the PTA on this year’s event. “Reading is fun, and we wanted to show our students just how fun it could be.”
Throughout the two-week period, different PARP events were scheduled for each day. Some of the activities included Buddy Reading Day, Flashlight Friday, Music Idol Day, Mystery Reader Day, Pajama Day and Read a Shirt Day. The book fair also took place during the day and evening to further encourage reading. On the final day of PARP, the school gathered together for a rock-and-roll Mother Goose assembly. Each student who participated was also gifted a pair of headphones, courtesy of the PTA.