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This week has been Read Across America Week in schools around the country. I had the opportunity to learn about the initiative and how W.L.M. celebrates the event from Deprise Nickerson, second grade teacher at Warren L. Miller Elementary School. Because this is such a busy week at school, Ms. Nickerson and I corresponded through e-mail. Our virtual conversation follows:

What is Read Across America Week?
Read Across America Week is a national movement created by the NEA (National Education Association) in 1998 to get kids excited about books. The goal of the week is simple – to celebrate reading! It is celebrated every year during the week of beloved author, Dr. Seuss’, birthday.

The week-long event is sponsored by the PTO. What is involved in making this an exciting week for the students?
The PTO plans, advertises, and sets up the Book Swap that is held yearly as well as plans themed days for the week. The themed days are based off of books by Dr. Seuss. For example, on Wednesday we will be wearing wacky, mismatched clothes in honor of the book, Wacky Wednesday. The Book Swap is an event that happens in the evening where students bring in books to donate, then get to choose new books. The number of books donated is the number of books students are allowed to pick! This year’s book swap is slightly different due to some COVID restrictions. The event is being held in the school during the school day and ALL students at our school are allowed to pick a book regardless if they donate a book or not.

Other things that teachers have organized for Read Across America week also include a photo booth, mystery readers on the announcements, mystery readers in classrooms, and a Read-a-Thon in classrooms where students ask for sponsors to donate money towards building classroom libraries.

Is this a first time event or has this been an annual event?
The Book Swap and Read Across America week have been going on at WLM since as long as I have been here (almost 10 years) but I’m sure it has been going on even longer. Each year we try to freshen it up with new exciting events and themed days to make it more exciting for the kids. This year a photo booth was added to the hallway! The teachers and PTO work together as well as our student council to make it a special week.