Grab your favorite books and sit down because it is reading time! H-F students were at Serena Hills on March 3 to read to the elementary students.
Reading specialist Beverly Woods-Lenore is the sponsor of the event, which originated last year. “Read Across America is the nation’s largest celebration of reading. It is a year-round program that motivates children and teens to read books that reflect their identities and experiences. Read Across America day [or] week is dedicated to promoting literacy and emphasizing the importance of reading,” Lenore said.
Reading is an important part of a child’s development, since it helps them learn to read, write and understand tone, context and how to communicate. Even better, reading aloud to the children, as the H-F students did, significantly supports their development.
According to PBS Kids, “Reading aloud to kids has clear cognitive benefits. For example, brain scans show that hearing stories strengthens the part of the brain associated with visual imagery, story comprehension and word meaning. ”
Teachers from Serena Hills shared their love for this event and hope the H-F students come back every year. Gabriela Soto, an English Learner (EL) teacher who started this year, enjoyed this event. “Anything that promotes literacy is cute!” she said.
She continued to express her excitement for this new event because it didn’t take place at the old school where she used to work.
The H-F students arrived at the elementary school at 9 a.m., they met with the principal, Elizabeth Reich, who told them what they would be doing, and took a photo at the front before picking out some books for the little kids.
The teens were split up into groups of three or four; each group read to three classes. The students read to fourth- and fifth-graders, while the first-graders read to the high school students. After an H-F student read a book to one of the classes, the elementary students were able to ask some questions about high school.
Some of the questions were funny, like “Are you dating anyone?” or “Do you sleep in class?” while some were unique, like “How do you handle school and sports?’
For the first-graders, each H-F student was assigned three to four students, who all sat outside in the hallway. Each first-grader read to the teens and was again able to ask and answer questions about teen life and what high school is like.
This is a new tradition both schools have, and H-F will continue to go to Serena Hills to read to each student every year. Although this is a new event, it will most likely stay the same every year. The little kids loved the day and had lots of fun listening to the teens read.
