Barbara C. Wilson Celebrates Read Across America Week
Every year, Barbara C. Wilson (BCW) Preschool students, families, and staff come together to celebrate the magic of reading during Read Across America Week.
BCW kicked off Read Across America early with a Spirit Week of fun, vibrant, and culturally diverse books and activities—bringing stories to life for students and families.
Spirit Week themes included Silly Hat Day, Wear Red Day (a nod to Dr. Suess), Silly Sock Day, and Pajama Day. Activities, like mystery readers and sharing favorite bedtime stories, coincided with each of the spirit days.
Curriculum coordinators planned the Spirit Week, and the teachers contacted parents to recruit mystery readers for storytime.
“Mystery readers is always the favorite,” said BCW Director Diane Condy. “The children get clues about who is coming, and it’s usually a parent. They’re all surprised when the mom or dad comes to read the story. The families love coming in and being part of the week. The children were so excited.”
BCW students are at a pre-reading level. Staff work together to expose them to new words, empathy, listening skills, imagination, recall, emotional awareness, sequencing, and other concepts through storytime.
“You would think a simple storytime would just be a simple storytime, but it is not,” Diane said. “They also have book time every day outside of storytime where they will choose a book and say what they recall from a book. That’s always an exciting time for them.”
It is also important for children to have storytime outside of the classroom. Parents receive a weekly newsletter about what books their children are reading in school.
“We encourage storytime before bed,” Diane said. “And I think parents being a part of the mystery reading is great because they can see how to present a book to this age group.”
Great job to all the students, families, and staff who made Read Across America Week a week to remember!