Southdown PARP Program is Full of Action and Excitement
This year’s Parents as Reading Partners program at Southdown Primary School celebrated 350 years of public education in Huntington along with the town’s heritage. The initiative served many purposes in addition to getting students interested in making reading a daily part of their lives.
Southdown Principal Michelle Marino called the PARP program at the school “action packed.” Guest readers included town officials, district administrators, School Board members and various local residents and other dignitaries. Representatives from the Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Huntington Historical Society made special visits, too.
PARP got underway with Southdown teachers and support staff donning colonial costumes and greeting students as they made their way through the school doors and down hallways decorated with large photos of local historic buildings, which were on loan from Town Hall’s archives.
A timeline of the town’s long history stretched down an entire hallway. Individual classes were assigned specific time periods to research and later posted their findings for all to see. A colonial demonstration was also held, including presentations on shearing sheep and turning it into wool, making butter and milking a cow. There were also old-fashioned toys for students to inspect and play with. The youngsters were even able to try writing with quill pens and stenciling.
PARP organizers worked hard so the program would capture the interest of students, from the voices of mystery readers being carried over the public address system to frequent trivia questions that made the youngsters think. Students guessed out loud at who the mystery could possibly be and took delight in answering a trivia question.
PARP encourages parents and students to read together for at least 15 minutes each day and it seeks to instill a lifelong love for the activity. Southdown’s PARP committee said this year’s program was a tremendous success.
Four Town Board members, two school trustees, numerous school administrators from Superintendent John J. Finello down to department directors and others took up roles as guest readers, paying visits to classrooms. Local dentist and author Dr. Alfred Sforza presented his latest book on town history to second graders with a great deal of excitement and flair, mesmerizing the youngsters who have been studying Huntington’s Native American Indians.
A book swap was also introduced at the school and hundreds of students brought in gently used volumes they no longer needed, trading them in for something of interest. Children that weren’t able to bring in a book of their own still walked away with at least one to keep. The Huntington Public Library even kicked in “hornbooks” and stamps for students that visited there. The stamps helped students acquire extra minutes in the PARP daily reading tally.
A special “pajama story time” saw students wearing their PJs and “recess readers” were even organized so entire classes could add to their personal total of reading minutes. School Heritage Museum Curator Jack Abrams stopped by with his treasure chest of district mementos and spellbinding stories of Huntington lore.
“The Southdown school community did a wonderful job putting together a very rewarding and interesting PARP program this year,” Mr. Finello said. “To see students get excited about reading is a beautiful sight to behold.”
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