Nipomo students, community members take part in national reading event

NIPOMO, Calif. -- Students at Dorothea Lange Elementary School in Nipomo started off the week with one of the school's most popular traditions.

All day long, community volunteers visited classrooms to read to students during the annual "Read Across America" event.

The nationwide initiative was created by the National Education Association in 1997 to spur an interest in reading.

It's held on or around the March 2nd birthday of famed children's author Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss).

"Literacy is what we want for them," said librarian technician Jennifer Philson. "It shows them how it can be fun and where it can go for them and it supports what we want to do for them here in the library."

At Lange Elementary, nearly two dozen community readers took part by reading books to students in all grade levels.

"They are from all over our community, from the news, fireman and policemen, educators, aerospace engineers, grandparents. The kids love to see these people on campus," said Philson. "They really enjoy it."

Guest readers were on campus all day long, beginning in the morning and continuing through the end of the school day.

"It's always very attended by our guest readers," said Philson. "They look forward to coming in to the school and sharing a story. Kids always have a million questions as to why they picked they story and what they do for a living and how reading impacts them, which opens so many opportunities for the kids mentally."

For many kids, Read Across America is one of their favorite days of the school year.

"It's fun and interesting and really cool," said student Kaylyn Heit. "I like it because someone gets to read to us and we can watch and listen."

"I like it because I like books," said student Jordan Padilla. "I enjoy reading them. They're fun. You can learn knowledge sometimes. I like because it's a whole 15 minutes of dedicated to reading. It's like another library time."

Philson