by Stephanie Linton
Oquirrh Hills Elementary Community School Director
Never underestimate the magic of a good book!
At Oquirrh Hills Elementary, March was literacy month. In order to encourage kids to grab a book and read, teachers, staff, students and volunteers literally made their favorite books come to life! To kick off a great month, JC Penney volunteers made special guest appearances possible: The Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Thing One and Thing Two, Sam-I-Am, The Lorax, and other beloved Dr. Seuss characters flooded the halls in order to read to each classroom. Student’s also participated in a kick-off assembly that included a character fashion show. Each classroom chose its favorite book, dressed up as characters from that book, and presented their favorite part while walking down the runway to show off their fashions. Some favorite fashions included students in gray shirts and sweatpants to represent the book Divergent, Calvin and Hobbs, and the colorful princess gowns representing Fancy Nancy and her sister. Even the magic school bus and Ms. Frizzle made an appearance on the runway. To end the day, every classroom was given one hour to create the most creative door, depicting their favorite Dr. Seuss book.
To keep up the spirit of reading throughout the month, classrooms participated in book reading contests. Every time the class read a book together, they were able to put another stripe on the hat of their classroom Cat in the Hat and compete for their very own classroom copy of “The Lorax.” Students were also given incentives to read and create book board displays for our end of the month celebration.
At the end March, we hosted our “Magic of Literacy” family night which included a magician from the KSL Road to Success program and local Rocky Mountain Muggle club representatives from the Kearns Public Library, which were dressed in their favorite Harry Potter robes. We were excited to see so many wonderful book board displays, and even a classroom of displays done on Chrome books! Students and families were able to vote for their favorite displays and winners received brand new books and matching character stuffed animals.
Thank you to everyone for participating in our Literacy Month and for LIVING UNITED!
Oquirrh Hills Elementary is a United Way of Salt Lake Community School.
