To encourage students to read more, particularly to read for pleasure, Yeshivah of Flatbush has dedicated the entire year as Reading for Enjoyment Year, which teachers and students alike have really embraced.
The year-long program started out with a bang with the kickoff “Rocking Reading Party Concert,” organized by the Reading Committee, made up of eight teachers. It featured storytellers Beth and Scott, who sang stories that got everyone dancing, incorporating the themes of reading, nutrition and exercise.
Fitting right in is our school’s celebration of National Children’s Book Week with the theme “Pop Open a Good Book.” From healthy popcorn snacks to popcorn-scented bookmarks that smell good enough to eat, everyone seems to be embracing the theme whole-heartedly.
Take a walk throughout the halls of the school and you can find posters of popcorn containers, paper pieces of popcorn on which students wrote the names of their favorite books, and signs in Hebrew and English encouraging reading, reading and more reading.
Colorful posters and bookmarks are great decorations and favors, but to really get the message across, each month the Reading Committee plans a special program that in some way encourages reading.
Book Week, held in November, is always the most exciting five days of the month. Each day has a special theme, ranging from “Crazy Hat Day” to “Sweat It Out With a Good Hebrew Book Day,” to “Be a Sport and Read Day.” It’s really a sight to see when students and teachers come to school wearing their crazy hats and funny socks. From sombreros to colorful striped knee socks to jerseys of all teams, colors, shapes and sizes, the kids really had a good time dressing up.
A division-wide “Read-In” was introduced this year by Book Week organizers third grade teacher Orli Listman and elementary school librarian Lynne Grant. Invoking the same idea as a “sit-in,” for one period during the day, students gathered in the auditorium, sat down, and read. Everyone from grades 2-5, including staff and faculty, brought in their favorite book, magazine, comic or anything else they wanted to read. The idea was to show students how cool reading is, and that everyone does it, even teachers, principals and office staff.
During Book Week, the school also holds its annual read-a-thon. Students read at home and log the number of pages read each night. This is a good incentive to read, and everyone can’t wait for the next day when they hear on the loudspeaker how many pages the entire division read: 99,210 for the week!
Since the love of reading is infectious, second grade teacher Rochelle Miller wanted to do more. She started a monthly newsletter about reading and its benefits. The “Raves for Reading” newsletter is a 10 page booklet filled with paragraphs by second graders on why they like to read, essays from fourth graders on their favorite books, and tips and tricks for parents to get their kids to read more. From bedtime stories to playing word games on a long car ride, parents are given suggestions for ways to encourage kids to read, have fun and bond all at the same time.
With “Reading for Enjoyment” year in full swing, YOF is wasting no time planning its next event. December’s “Raves for Reading” theme incorporates reading, nutrition and exercise into one fun-filled trip to Fuel Gym, a local gym donated for the day by its owner YOF alumna Franci Cohen (née Shomer, HS ’95).
Students will get a break from their studies, and everyone can have fun, relax and enjoy a good book. The trip to Fuel Gym will give students an entire day filled with physical activities such as rock climbing and yoga, as well as educational activities and, of course, lots of books to read there and to take home.
Whether for class or for fun, reading more has incalculable rewards such as building a stronger vocabulary, increasing concentration and bettering one’s chances for a successful, fulfilling life.
From a “Drop Everything and Read Day,” to older students reading to kindergarteners, to a school wide read-a-thon, to trips galore, YOF teachers are busy planning more and more ways to entertain and excite and to teach an important lesson—that reading is fun.
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Annie Lubin is studying journalism at Brooklyn College and is a freelance writer.
