It was Read Across America week February 27th through March 3rd. Ellsworth Elementary teachers took the celebration to a whole new level for their students. The week always coincides with Dr. Suess’ birthday so the weeks theme was Everything Sr. Suess. Teachers and paras decorated the bulletin boards and doorways based on a Dr. Suess book. Each day of the week they celebrated a different Dr. Sues book; Monday’s theme “And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street” saw the students wearing vacation shirts and they welcomed retired teacher Mary Rebenowitz back to read to students k-4th. Tuesday’s book “The Lorax” had students wearing crazy socks and mustaches. Students mixed classrooms up and read to each other. Wednesday’s theme “Oh the Places You’ll Go” had students wear their favorite college shirt. Sioux Falls librarian, Calla Jarvie, came in and read to the students. Calla is a regular volunteer at Ellsworth Schools. Thursdays “The Cat in the Hat” had the students wearing stripes and crazy hats. They mixed things up with partner reading, 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders read together and Kindergarten and 4th graders read to each other And Friday was “Cozy up with a Good Book Day,” students wore their pajamas to school and spent the day in comfortable chairs and wrapped in blankets reading and in the gym playing Dr. Suess based games. They wrapped up the week with the movie The Lorax.
Teachers Jenni Fick, Sara Leuthold, Leah Deutsch, Hanna Walters and Ethan Van Briesen enjoyed bringing books to life for their students this week, along with paras Dani Beekman who kept track of the book shelf and of how many books the kids read, and Amber Swanson who helped with a lot of decorations. Teachers and students are looking forward to continuing to share their love of reading beyond Read Across America Week.
