By Sophie Siebach
Moss Elementary Community School Director
Even though Day of Caring was almost a month ago, Moss Elementary School is still feeling the positive effects of the volunteer work that happened that day. Deseret Management Corporation had over 100 volunteers come to Moss Elementary School to read to a child, give a career presentation, or paint an 81 foot mural for our library. In addition, Read Today did an assembly for all the students about the importance of reading and donated over 600 books, one for each child.
Students were so excited to see so many people helping at the school; a fourth grader said, “It was exciting and I was surprised to go in the gym and see so many volunteers.”
“While students are able to read books at school, many of them are not able to practice their reading skills at home because they don’t have access to any books. Giving each child a book is amazingly helpful for these students,” mentioned a first grade teacher.
In total, over 60 volunteers participated in helping paint an 81 foot mural designed by Las Vegas muralist Aniko Doman. Volunteers helped to paint the sketches Aniko pre-prepared on the canvas. The canvas was hung up in the library and created a space that would inspire any student to read. Speaking about the mural the librarian commented, “Every child who came into the library the next week said, WOW! It makes the library feel like someplace where magic can happen.”
Reading is not just a skill, it is an experience. The combination of helping students practice the reading skills, giving them resources to practice reading at home, and creating a space where students will feel inspired and excited to read is something that will benefit the students at Moss Elementary school all year.
It was a great way to kick off our Year of Literacy!
