On September 6, 2023, Cherokee Trail Elementary celebrated National Read A Book Day with a variety of activities to promote literacy in our community. To start our day, guest readers from the Teacher Cadet class at Dixie High School entertained students by sharing their favorite books from when they attended elementary school. The teacher cadets also gave each student a bookmark to "mark their place" in books. Later in the day, community members and Abbeville County Schools district office staff arrived at school to read aloud to students and share their love of reading. Additionally, our school started a new activity, First Chapter Fridays, for our older students. Each week, students will listen to a recording of a guest reader sharing the first chapter of a longer book that will ignite a desire to find out what happens next in the book by ending the recording on a cliffhanger. Our school believes highlighting chapter books will encourage older children to take time to visit our school library to read and check out their own copy. Finally, our students enjoyed an afternoon of independent reading time throughout the school where they read their own books for enjoyment.
National Read A Book Day was created to encourage communities and schools to read for pleasure. Over 74% of Americans have read at least one book in the last 12 months. The business of life definitely gets in the way of individual reading pursuits with many other activities competing for time. Luckily, electronic platforms have made it easier to read on the go . Almost 20% of books consumed by Americans are now via electronic platforms.
Whatever text format you prefer, grab or download the book on the top of your stack and dive in! Let every day be a day to read a book!
