Jefferson’s Reading Night Draws Show of Support

Jefferson Primary School’s Reading Night drew a crowd of 250 to the building in a strong show of community support for literacy initiatives.

The evening represented a collaboration between faculty, staff and the Jefferson PTA and, of course, the hundreds of students studying at the school. Families were invited to visit classrooms for a range of engaging and fun literacy activities.

Highlights of the evening included:

• Finger Monster: Participants were encouraged to either point to words or scoop them up while engaging with text.

• Monster Puppets: Activities included a “Slap-a-Word” game or discussions through Monster Book Talk sessions.

• Feed the Monster: Children had the opportunity to feed letters, trick words and vocabulary words to a monster, fostering interactive learning experiences.

• Monster Writing: Students utilized a graphic organizer featuring adjectives as a foundation for their writing projects.

• Monster Journal: Participants were encouraged to document their thoughts and experiences related to reading in their journals.

“In addition to these activities, there were readings of monster-themed books, a Scholastic Book Fair and a bake sale organized by the Jefferson Leadership Team to support the Helping Hand Rescue Mission in Huntington,” Principal Valerie Capitulo-Saide said.

Jefferson faculty and staff members are striving to instill in students a love for reading. Students have been told they will never be bored if they always have a book within reach.

“Technology has brought us to a period where the whole total of human knowledge is literally at our fingers,” according to INC Magazine. “While many individuals who have access to the Internet no longer find books necessary, they remain the essential source of information for many others. Reading is a crucial ability that everyone should possess to be successful in life. Aside from the obvious benefits of reading for pleasure daily, there are many more reasons to make it a habit to read: cultural exposure, linguistic growth, and intellectual stimulation.

Knowledge is built via reading, so it may help you do better on tests that measure your ability to apply what you’ve learned. Reading is an essential aspect of our educational system and helps students acquire abilities that will serve them well on exams in the future.”