Traditions. We have many. The annual storybook parade is one that has been around for a long time. Each year we try a few new things, but the hear of the storybook parade is celebrating books by dressing as our favorite characters, carrying the book, and showing off our costume and book to the community.
Trying to document the day. (Photo Credit: Paul Lee)
The day begins with guest readers in every classroom. Janice Flory, our volunteer coordinator, sets up a Signup Genius to recruit 2 readers for each classroom. They gather in the library, select a book, take a group picture, and then get escorted to a classroom by a 5th grade BTV crew member.
I was really excited about the selection of books they had to choose from this year.
Next, the whole school gathered in the lunchroom for an assembly. Since October 27 was Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, I read aloud The Bear Ate Your Sandwich and recorded approximately 675 listeners to the story.
When we were a smaller school, we took time to walk across the stage and show off our costumes, but it is a challenge as we have grown. Now, we simply stand by row, do a little twirl, and then sit down facing the back of the cafeteria. The costumes this year were amazing. I really pushed for students to think about characters they connected with and dress as that character.
At this point, we head out on our parade. Our route this year was the entire block of our school.
Students chant “read more books” as they walk down the sidewalk and parents and community members watch and blow their horns as they pass by.
Our Prek-4th grade classes return to school and begin literacy activities in their classrooms. Our 5th grade walks to the nearby Georgia Center to have hot chocolate and spend some time together.
Upon returning to school, our specials teachers, resource teachers, and media center offer special 30-minute sessions that classrooms can sign up to attend.
In the library, I offered a couple of experiences. Lower grades designed their own Halloween pumpkins using the Quiver augmented reality app.
Upper grades used littlebits to make something spooky. Both of these activities were connected to spooky stories we have in the library.
I loved seeing the designs that students came up with in both experiences. It was a fast-paced session that pushed students to be creative, work together, problem solve, and innovate. I hope that many will continue to explore littlebits beyond this fast session.
As always, this day was tons of fun but exhausting. It takes the whole community to make the event successful. Thank you to every student, teacher, family member, and community member who helped us make this day a success.
This year, I’m really trying to think of ways to support students’ reading lives. Recently, Ms. Hicks, 3rd grade collaborator, came to me with an idea. She wondered if I would meet with small groups of students in 3rd grade who needed some suggestions of books to read. These students are all readers but some might be stuck in their reading, abandon many of the books they choose, need a nudge to try something new, etc.
Expect the Miraculous 