Students engage in literacy activities and challenges during National Reading Month

Head Start students at the Bucks IU’s Upper County Learning Center in Telford celebrate completing an activity after reading If You Give a Dog a Donut.

March is National Reading Month, and educators, including those at the Bucks County Intermediate Unit (Bucks IU), are using activities and challenges throughout the month to motivate students to read and develop their literacy skills. Many of these activities feature books by Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss.

At the Bucks IU’s Mid-County Early Learning Center in Warminster, Pre-K Counts teacher Melanie Sands and her class celebrated “Dr. Seuss Week” also known as “Read Across America Week” by reading a story from the author each day and focusing on the letter “R” for “reading.” They also incorporated Dr. Seuss into their Wacky Art Wednesday session, using watercolor paint to create Thing 1 and Thing 2’s hair. To top off the celebration, the children taste-tested green eggs on “Green Eggs and Ham Day.”

The activities expose students “to reading, rhyming, and making connections between literature and life,” said Kathe Bryner, supervisor of early childhood programs at the Bucks IU’s Mid-County Early Learning Center in Warminster.

Queta Johnson-Hollman, a Bucks IU Head Start teacher in Bristol Borough, is incorporating similar reading activities into her students’ lessons throughout March. “We are inviting parents to read to our class through Zoom,” Johnson-Hollman said. “We’ve read the following Dr. Seuss books so far, The Cat in The Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Johnson-Hollman is also using the month of March to help students learn how to navigate a book. During a recent lesson, the students each used their own copy of The Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang to find the book’s title, the illustrator’s name and to learn how to turn each page.

“I feel excited, happy, proud and appreciative for the children at an early age to learn new words, deepen social interactions, understand the importance of reading, and grasp reading concepts that can lead to building high self-esteem and enjoying literacy,” Johnson-Hollman said.

Students at the Bucks IU’s Upper County Early Learning Center in Telford are also immersed in reading activities during March. Head Start teacher Rosie Seidelmann has encouraged her students to use their artistic skills to illustrate what they learned after reading Splat the Cat, Rainbow Fish, and The Foolish Tortoise. “The students are enjoying the chance to incorporate art into their literacy development,” said Nicole Cranage, family support provider for the Head Start and Pre-K Counts students at the Bucks IU’s Upper County Early Learning Center. “Each student was excited to tell me details of the stories and was proud of themselves for being able to recall their favorite parts,” Cranage said.

To further encourage literacy development, the Bucks IU at Samuel Everitt is hosting its annual Reading Challenge throughout March. Everitt principal Dr. Janean Ciancia and assistant principal Mark McCloskey have challenged students at the IU center in Levittown to read a collective 1,600 books in one month.

Students learned about the challenge in early March during an enthusiastic rally in the school gymnasium. Since then, students have been tracking their progress by taping book images onto posters designed to look like library shelves, which are displayed in the gym. Staff members provide periodic updates over the school’s public address system, informing students of their progress. During a recent update, Behavioral Analyst Dr. Kelly McElrath highlighted two classes — one with 140 books read and another with 125 books completed by mid-March. “Way to go! Keep up the great work,” McElrath told the students.

Everitt serves students from kindergarten through age 21 with autism, emotional needs and multiple disabilities. All students are encouraged to participate in the Reading Challenge. Each class provides students with time to read and log hours toward the goal. In Meghan Dykan and Ray Schmoltze’s emotional support class, students have a “DEAR” session each day before lunch.

“DEAR” stands for “Drop Everything and Read,” special education teacher Meghan Dykan explained. “Students all have an independent reading book that they keep with them and use during this time. This book can also be used during other downtimes throughout the day, but it is their designated reading for DEAR. It helps our students with more than just reading. During this time, they learn self-regulation skills, practice focusing quietly on a task, and develop critical thinking skills and overall curiosity.”

Everitt student Gavin Zaino has immersed himself in one of the books from the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. He uses his DEAR time each day to delve into the dystopian thriller. “It’s good,” Gavin, 12, said. “It’s fun and takes your mind off stuff.”

Student Emily Johnson is using her DEAR time to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. She understands how the reading sessions help her with all her school subjects. “Reading makes you better at math, and it makes it easier to do stuff with words,” Emily, 15, said.

Teacher Meghan Dykan said watching her students read is one of the most rewarding parts of being an educator. “I get so excited when I see students pick up a book and invest their time in it,” Dykan said. “I wish I had time to read everything they do so that I could discuss all the details with them. It is not just about building their skills but helping them discover that there is so much more to the world than their day-to-day experiences, and they can access all of that through various texts.”