(EL PASO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT – Feb. 29, 2024) — Schools throughout El Paso ISD are celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week. The beloved children’s author was born March 2, 1904. However, since his birthday falls on a Saturday this year, El Paso ISD campuses decided to celebrate a little early.
Dr. Seuss’ birthday coincides with Read Across America week, which is meant to encourage children to read. The famed author once wrote, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Clendenin Elementary School is just one of the many institutions at El Paso ISD that hosted fun activities for students. Gabriela Garcia, the campus teaching coach, explained the importance of picking up a book.
“Reading is important for a student’s academic needs, especially if they want to be successful in their studies and future careers,” Garcia said. “We want to make sure that students still know the importance of literacy and remind them how crucial it is for their academic goals.”
One unique way El Paso ISD educators inspired children to read — is by encouraging students and staff to dress up as their favorite character from a book. Some of the students, teachers, and staff members dressed up as popular characters such as Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, and more.
“Dressing up gives our students some motivation to want to come to school and find out more about these book characters, Garcia said. “It also teaches some of the students to be creative because they made some of their outfits in the classroom.”
At Powell Elementary School, faculty organized a parade to motivate kids to become curious about reading a book. Several other campuses also hosted their own book themed parades.
Educators said these types of activities teach children that reading can be fun.
“Sometimes reading is not as interesting for some of the students, so we create fun activities during the week, so that way we can motivate our students to read throughout the year,” said Clendenin Principal Martha Martinez.
El Paso ISD is engaged in various initiatives to get children interested in reading.
Early literacy was bolstered last spring with the introduction of Literacy First. The project entails weekly reading sessions between volunteers and 2-5 students at a handful of El Paso campuses. The visits from the community volunteers take place during the students’ enrichment period. All volunteers participated in training conducted by El Paso ISD educators before meeting with the students.
The introduction of Literacy First came on the heels of the spring launch of Buenas Noches, El Paso – a virtual literacy initiative featuring notable figures from El Paso ISD and the community reading children’s books online. To see the complete series of Buenas Noches, El Paso go to episd.org/buenasnoches.
In addition to outreach, El Paso ISD also developed a new literacy instructional framework to increase students’ opportunities to thrive beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year. The district partnered with The New Teacher Project to design a framework that supports literacy and biliteracy instruction, creates an optimal learning environment and increases student success in the foundations of literacy — reading, writing, listening and speaking.
