Flower Hill Gets Plenty of Reading Practice
A book fair at Barnes & Noble in Huntington Station kicked off this year’s Parents as Reading Partners program for the Flower Hill Primary School community. The initiative provided 17 days of activities in homes, at the school and in the community.
Students were encouraged to immerse themselves in reading and from cereal boxes and recipes to song lyrics, magazines and good old-fashioned books, the youngsters happily complied. The goal of the program was for parents and other caregivers to spend time reading and engaging in literacy based activities with Flower Hill students.
“By reading just 15 minutes a day, you will be helping your child build vocabulary, improve comprehension and allowing him or her to expand their imagination,” wrote parents and PARP committee members Tracy Tucker and Alyse Colon in a letter to the school community. “Our goal is to make reading enjoyable, not stressful.”
Since 2008 is a leap year and the Flower Hill’s PARP program got underway in earnest on Feb. 29, organizers gave this year’s campaign the theme, “Leap into a Good Book.”
Mystery readers spent time in classrooms on three Friday afternoons and on a special Monday, when Flower Hill participated in the Read Across America program that involved thousands schools across America. One day saw students wear pajamas to school and “snuggle up” with a book while another involved children wearing shirts containing messages that could be read by others.
Parents and students were encouraged to visit the Huntington Public Library one day while another had them reading the comics section of the newspaper. A PARP boutique was made available on the last day of the program, with many interesting items.
The book fair at Barnes & Noble brought dozens of parents and teachers to the store along with hundreds of students and Flower Hill Principal Marlon Small. “We appreciate so much that Mr. Small always makes the children a priority and it is nice to see that the teachers are taking his lead in things like this and joining in with the families to make events like this special for the children,” parent Susan Minson said.
Students were read stories, had an opportunity to obtain temporary tattoos, created bookmarks, played games and frequented a special café staffed by faculty members.
“Reading is the most important skill we learn in school, but like all skills, it requires practice,” said the PARP letter to Flower Hill families. This year’s PARP program provided plenty of opportunities for just the type of practice reading requires.
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