Connected to reading

Posted 4/16/15

Governor Gina Raimondo chose Dooby Dooby Moo as the book she would read to the first grade class at Randall Holden Elementary School on Wednesday morning during Reading Week.

Unaware of how …

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Connected to reading

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Governor Gina Raimondo chose Dooby Dooby Moo as the book she would read to the first grade class at Randall Holden Elementary School on Wednesday morning during Reading Week.

Unaware of how willing or able the governor may be to participate, substitute teacher Wayne Barnes sent an e-mail to Raimondo asking if she would like to come read to his class this week. Not only did Raimondo agree, but Mayor Scott Avedisian also followed her on the same morning with a reading of Very Busy Spider.

Raimondo described the visit as a “happy day,” as it gave her the chance to visit with students and show her appreciation for students and teachers. She was animated and engaging while she read to the students. The kids had no hesitation about joining in with animal noises when needed. Throughout the reading the students were all attentive and focused, and the governor praised them for being so well behaved from the beginning.

After her reading, Raimondo was given a pen from the school as a thank you, and she joked about signing a bill with it.

Raimondo said afterward that one of her favorite books was The Giving Tree and her children loved the Harry Potter series and Nate the Great books. Avedisian also shared that some of his favorite books to read to classes during Reading Week are Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, I Stink and He Came with the Couch.

Avedisian is very supportive of the Reading Week program and thinks it “sets a good foundation” and instills a lifelong love of reading. It was not only the mayor, but the school’s principal, Kenneth Rassler, and the reading teacher, Nancy McCormack, who expressed how important Reading Week is for getting kids excited about reading. The three recognize how important reading is for not only future endeavors but also personal enjoyment.

Randall Holden certainly does all it can to make Reading Week as enjoyable as possible for the students. Every day has something special about it, from a book swap that happened Monday to an ice cream celebration happening on Friday. During each day, kids are able to win prizes from book trivia and “mystery readers” are teachers who anonymously read poems over the intercom so students can try to guess which teacher it is.

Throughout the week, anywhere from 30-50 guests appear to read. Storytellers such as Ryan San Angelo also come in.

All the attention to reading emphasizes its importance and hopefully opens that personal connection to reading that can bring joy and information for a lifetime, not just a week.

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