‘Read Across America’ activities held at several Santa Maria elementary schools
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – A handful of Santa Maria elementary schools celebrated "Read Across America" with reading activities all day long Friday.
Coordinated by the National Education Association (NEA), Read Across America is held year each on March 2.
With March 2 landing on a Saturday this year, many schools within the Santa Maria-Bonita School District observed the event a day early.
At Oakley Elementary School, about 30 guest readers took part in the day, with each reading at least one children's book to a class.
"The purpose of the day is to bring the community into the school, into the classroom, so that the students could be read to by community members and and enjoy the love of reading," said Oakley Elementary School teacher Sharon Kuhbander, who helped organize the event. "What they're getting from it is this opportunity to not hear their teachers, to get somebody new from the community to come in and talk, but they also get to ask questions regarding their field.
Some of the guest readers were family members of students at the school, while others were students themselves, in upper grade levels.
"We have high school students come," said Kuhbander. "They get to talk to them about what sports they play, what their interests are, where they're going to college, so it gives them an opportunity of just expanding their horizons and seeing what else is out there."
Guest reading activities for Read Across America have been held at Oakley for at least 10 years, in an effort to promote building strong reading skills.
"It's important in maintaining a career, going to college, whatever job they want to have in high school or after high school building," said Kuhbander. "Those skills is important in the elementary school because this is the foundation. This is where they learn to read. This is also where they learn to love to read."
Besides Oakley, several other elementary schools also held Read Across America activities on Friday, including Sanchez, Alvin and Taylor.
Other Santa Maria schools are scheduled to hold similar events in the coming days, including Arellanes Junior High, Rice Elementary and Miller Elementary.
Jiménez School held a literacy night for Read Across America on Thursday.
Santa Maria Bonita School District pointed out that reading is celebrated every day in its schools, and for Read Across America Day, it becomes especially visible focus on many campuses
