Crazy for the Reading Room
By Chanelle Stephenson, Blake Burnett, Kayla Ramirez and Samihah Keita. Edited by Sean Beach. Photos by Blake Burnett.
APRIL 19, 2016: On April 12, 2016, Friendship Armstrong Elementary had a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Reading Room. In the Reading Room, the first thing I noticed was the artwork and I saw the bins with the grade levels on them, so if you're in a rush, you don’t have to ask the teacher. I also noticed that you can see everything because the entrance door is glass, and I saw the books open like butterflies on the shelves. Another thing I noticed was that the room is fashionable because it smells good and the room is very colorful.
At the beginning of the ceremony Mr. Hense told us how reading is important. Mr. Speight was excited. He explained the importance of reading. Then Mr. Hense read a story called Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr. Then Ms. Dunnock introduced a parent, Ms. Ballard. She introduced Ms. Ballard because she represents all parents and they
need to encourage their children to read. Ms. Ballard told us that she thinks that the Reading Room is an outstanding addition to the school. We interviewed Mr. Hense. We asked him what would inspire students to read more? His answer was, “If their parents read to them, kids do what they believe is important to their parents, so if you really want a kid to read the parents should take the lead and that will show the kid that this is important.”
The pre-k3 and 4 were given a tour of the new Reading Room.
When you walk into the Reading Room it feels like freedom in the school, because it’s where we can show our true personality. Also we can connect to the books that we are reading. There are great titles and a great adventure in every book! Reading can bring different emotions that can make a book very interesting. It will make you want to read the book again! You could learn so many things from books. Reading is a very good way to express yourself and use your imagination to bring the books to life. In our new reading room there are over 2,600 books. They are labeled by grade level and fun themes.We should thank our administrators for making all of this possible. All the students who participated in the ceremony got a surprise. The surprises was free books and refreshments from the first floor.
Chanelle Stephenson, Blake Burnett and Kayla Ramirez are fourth grade scholars and Samihah Keita is a fifth grade scholar at Friendship Armstrong Academy. Sean Beach is a 7th grade scholar at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.