Reading is a really big deal at Jefferson Primary School. The faculty and paraprofessionals who work with students encourage the youngsters to pick up a book and read every chance they get whether it’s in school, at home or even in the park or car or on vacation.
Jefferson School’s Jamboree Reading Night drew a crowd of more than 100 students and parents. It was an incredible evening of fun and learning.
Asked to “solve the case of the unknown genre” and Jefferson students rolled up their sleeves and work hard on the challenge. “They came to learn about the mystery genre of children’s books,” Jefferson Principal Valerie Capitulo-Saide said.
Students had a chance to talk about the elements of a good mystery book and participate in a read aloud of one picture book mystery, such as “Deductive Detective” or “Alphabet Mystery.”
“Teachers then helped students take fingerprints and leave clues about their identities for other students to figure out,” Ms. Capitulo-Saide said. “Every student left with a magnifying glass, a spy notebook and, hopefully, a new appreciation for the mystery genre.”
Jefferson School students are quickly learning that a reader never has a boring day. A good book can transport you to any era and any location past, present or future in the world.
“Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic recommend that parents read with their children beginning as early as infancy and continuing through elementary school years,” according to Healthline. “Reading with your children builds warm and happy associations with books, increasing the likelihood that kids will find reading enjoyable in the future. Reading at home boosts school performance later on. It also increases vocabulary, raises self-esteem, builds good communication skills and strengthens the prediction engine that is the human brain.”
