BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WHO would have thought reading was this much fun?
This is the general expression of the students of the Maurice Hillier Primary School who just completed an entire month of literacy dubbed “Literature Olympics Month”, during which time emphatic emphasis was placed on Reading, Understanding and Report Writing.
From Kindergarteners to Grade Sixers, all students of the academic institution embarked on the month-long journey in early January 2012.
The climactic activity took place on Friday and some have described it as “fun” and “exciting” and when SKNVibes visited the school and made rounds to the various classrooms to find several activities taking place.
Take Kindergarten for example, the little students of that grade took a Journey through Fairy World and as if the stories of Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet and others were not enough, a male and a female student were dressed as a prince and a princess, aiding the activation of the others’ imagination.
One of the Grade Five classes had as its’ theme, “Reading Rocks” and the students spared no effort in dressing the part. From the signature blue hair and funky glasses to punk hairstyles and clothing and even an electric guitar; it was obvious that the students were enjoying their reading experiences.
A visit to some of the other classes revealed that the regular uniforms were ditched just for that day, and the students wore a number of interesting costumes - a beekeeper, construction workers, a princess, a nurse, a chef, a police officer, a security officer, a mad scientist and even Judy Moody, their favourite characters in the books they read.
While one class understood that “Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are”, another decided to “Swing into Reading”, agreeing with their peers in yet another class which suggested that “The Journey of life starts with one book”.
And “Under the Sea searching for a book”other students went as they sought to improve their reading skills because “Today’s readers (are) tomorrow’s leaders”.
This publication spoke with a number of students including Maluska Ham, Chervase Newman and Tarelle McSheen of Grade Six, who all indicated that the month of activities has underscored the importance of reading. They all pledged – notwithstanding the month Literature Olympics has concluded – to continually improve upon their reading skills.
And should they be true to that promise, they would become – as another class expressed – “Heavy Weight Readers”.
Friday was also an open day where parents were welcomed to visit the school and read to the students.
And in Grade Six, in particular, the students had set up a Reading Café and parents who entered were presented a menu of books from which they would choose. The selected reading material was handed to the parents as they sat behind a table where a number of students were also seated and read to them.
The Café customers were also provided light refreshments which included sandwiches, punch and ice-cream.
Principal of the school Mrs. Icilma Springer described the month as “interesting” and “exciting” and declared it a success. She expressed that the Literature Olympics is an annual activity which has yielded results.
“I think it was a really rewarding month. Reading is key and I am one of those who feel if you can’t read you can’t do anything, because you have to read in Mathematics, Science etc…
“What I hope would happen is they would see the importance of reading and they would focus more on reading rather than the technology. There is nothing wrong with technology but reading is very important. You can go places through reading. So we hope that eventually they would read more.There are some who are still a bit slow but we have seen an improvement in the students.”
