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Pre-K students Brenleigh Turner and Grayson Sullivan look on as their teacher Lisa Conner reads a picture book with them on Wednesday, March 4. (Reporter photo/Keith McCoy)

ALABASTER – Students at Meadow View and Creek View elementary schools had a fun-filled week March 2-5 as they celebrated Read Across America Week, which kicked off on Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Read Across America is a nationwide initiative that focuses on the importance of reading. Throughout the week, students participated in-class activities, art and crafts projects and enjoyed mystery readers who read Dr. Seuss books to them, said MVES reading coach Heather Reeves.

Each day of the week, students were surprised with a different person reading a book to them.

MVES incorporated technology into the mystery reader program by recording each person reading their book and then passing the videos on to teachers to play on their smart boards. Some of the mystery readers included students in Thompson High School’s Education and Training Academy.

“Partnering with the high school gave them a project to work on and the elementary children love anything that involves the high school students,” Reeves said. “The younger kids really look up to them.”

On Monday students wore green and read “Green Eggs and Ham.” Some teachers actually cooked green eggs and ham for their students to taste or made a graph showing how many students has tried the dish before. The activities were tailored to suit each grade level and incorporated math and language skills.

“Our lunchroom staff also participated by providing a special lunch on Monday,” Reeves said. “The lunch menu included Cindy Lou Who French fries and birthday cake.”

Crazy socks day on Tuesday was marked by students reading “Fox in Socks,” and on Wednesday students read “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” while rocking T-shirts that featured places they’d like to visit or have visited. The week was capped off with kids wearing their pajamas to school and reading “Sleep Book.”

Students in Lisa Conner’s pre-K classroom rotated to different stations that focused on different skills. Reminiscent of the book “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,” the teacher called out a number and the students had to find the number on their sheet and cover it using Goldfish Baked Crackers. Students also created picture books in the shape of a hat and filled the pages with pictures of items that rhyme with the word ‘cat.’

Reeves said the children were really engaged in the activities taking place throughout the week. Two students even checked out Dr. Seuss books from the library so they could read together.

“That’s really the goal,” she said. “We want kids to love reading and to have a desire to improve their reading skills.”

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