Tomorrow (March 2) is Dr. Seuss’s 120th birthday making this week the perfect time for the Manchester Township School District to kick-off our annual Read Across America initiative!
Celebrations were plenty at each of the three elementary schools:
Whiting Elementary School (WES) celebrated Read Across America every day leading up to today's special guest reader event. Students were treated to a StarBooks Book Tasting! WES staff turned their school library into a student "coffee lounge" thanks to donations of cups and sleeves from the new Starbucks location in Whiting! Their teachers, the StarBooks baristas, served students their StarBooks drink order (of donated juice, lemonade, or water!) while students took a "taste" of the different types of books and topics available in their school library. Titles and topics such as sports, animals, inventions, mystery stories, and even some lesser-known Dr. Seuss titles were explored during this book tasting. Students rated their book choices, shared conversations over their books and beverages, and swapped titles for friends to explore. They even left with a StarBooks gift cup to remember the experience!
Later in the week, preschool students at Whiting Elementary School (WES) "exploded" green eggs and ham! During a fun and safe science experiment, students poured white vinegar over baking soda and colored food dye inside plastic eggs. Their excitement was evident by the continuous laughter heard as the green eggs & ham "exploded" like a volcano right in front of them!
Manchester Township Elementary School (MTES) held a family game night this week! The evening featured Books for Bingo which was loved by all. Students and their families came together to play games, meet with the Ocean County Library, and spend special time together over books.
Ridgeway Elementary School also hosted a fun family book gathering during their Barnes & Noble Book Night this past week. Students and families joined staff at Barnes & Noble for special read-alouds, games, prizes, and more. Thank you to everyone who came out to pack this event. It was a wonderful time spent together over books while fundraising for the school!
To culminate the week of fun, special guest readers visited classrooms throughout the day on Friday across all three elementary schools to share their love of reading with our students. Thank you to all who volunteered their time to come in and read! The children were treated to readers who are family members of our students, Board of Education members, law enforcement partners, school principals, school administration including our own Interim Superintendent Pedroza, and more!
Next week the fun will continue as we have more special guest readers visiting our buildings. We can't wait to share in more reading fun. Happy Read Across America 2024!