In celebration of National Reading Day on Jan. 23, Heritage Academy launched a free two-day book fair that not even Clifford the Big Red Dog could miss!
“It is the mission of Heritage Academy Elementary School staff to teach the children how to read, write, think, compute, appreciate the arts, speak well and behave in socially acceptable ways, so that they can become independent contributing members of society,” said Cheryle Harrison, general manager of Bounce TV. “Many of the aspirations in that mission statement begin with reading. Books inspire. Books tell stories. Books educate. Books comfort. Books also prepare you to move forward. On National Reading Day, find a book or two that inspires you.”
The two-day book fair, sponsored by Bounce TV and the Scripps Howard Foundation, began with a kick-off assembly in the South Atlanta Cluster elementary school’s gymnasium. Representatives from Bounce TV and Scripps joined Principal Trennis Harvey in encouraging students to read, read, read.
Principal Harvey also encouraged students to select books that they both enjoy and challenge them as readers.
“I’m so super, super excited about the whole initiative,” said Kimberly Johnson, who joined Heritage Academy as media specialist this school year. “When I walked in the door, it was a culture of reading. I’ve never seen kids so excited about reading. I attritube that to Mr. Harvey.”
Heritage Academy has made strides in the district-wide reading initiative Race2Read – surpassing its school goal of 22,546 minutes with 38,135 minutes read and counting.
Johnson says she can barely keep books on the shelves, so the book fair is right on time. Every student will have a choice of two free books to take home. In addition, the media center will receive a $2,600 donation of Scholastic books.
“We do this at every place that Scripps has a station,” said Liz Carter, president & CEO of Scripps Howard Foundation. “Through this book fair, we’re going to give away over 80,000 books. Our goal is to give to kids who are in need, who have families with limited resources.”
Dr. Ronald Lewis’ fourth-grade class was the first to enter the Scholastic book fair, filled with popular titles such as “Dork Diaries,” “Twintuition,” and “Amelia Bedelia.” As students shopped through the array of early readers and chapter books, their eyes grew bright with enthusiasm.
“Is this a dream?” said Zyniah Williams.
Perhaps it was a dream realized.
