Read Across America at Washington Primary School

Washington Primary School is a place where a love for reading radiates throughout each day. This year, instead of recognizing Read Across America Day, students and teachers celebrated reading with Read Across America Week.

“At 3:06 p.m. each school day Washington classes engaged in ‘Drop Everything And Read’ time,” Principal Dr. Michelle Richards said. “Some teachers read books to the class. In other classes, students read a book they enjoyed independently.”

Washington librarian, Rebecca Kraus curated the themes for the day and provided teachers with titles to choose from to support each day’s theme. To support PARP, ‘mystery readers’ visited classrooms and read aloud to students, as well.”

“The act of reading has been around for thousands of years, since the invention of the written word,” according to the website, National Today. “In the earliest years, reading was a skill that only a wealthy, educated segment of society had. Over time, more and more people learned to read and write, and reading came to be the common skill that it is today. Since the first book that was ever written, many authors have made their mark and been remembered for their remarkable work.

“One such author is Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss. He has authored some of the most popular children’s books of all time, selling over 600 million copies. In addition to being an author, Dr. Seuss was also an illustrator and cartoonist. After publishing his first children’s book, he took a break to illustrate political cartoons and joined the animation and film department in the United States Army. In this role, he wrote, produced and animated several projects and gained recognition for them. Following this, he returned to writing children’s books and how! He went on to write 60 books, a majority of which were critically acclaimed.”

The Read Across America initiative kicked off in 1998. Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 2 has been declared Read Across America Day.