March 2nd is known as “Read Across America Day”, the first full week in March is also “Read Across America Week'', and finally, the entire month of March is labeled as National Reading Month. Throughout March students, teachers, parents, and community members around the country come together to read books and celebrate the joy of reading.

At PA Distance, our K-12 staff and students are celebrating March’s reading theme with some hands-on activities that include read-aloud enrichment sessions with “Book Buddies”, book discussions in Literary Club, and much more!

“We plan to orally read to our elementary students in live learningevery day this week,” Elementary Principal, Mrs. Ploesch explained. “In our K-6 assemblies, we kicked off Read Across America Week and National Reading Month by introducing our chosen novel for the week: Matilda.” 

During their daily live enrichment time, elementary students will listen to their teachers, staff, and upperclassmen “Book Buddies” read each chapter of Matilda. Students in grades 9-12, some from the PA Distance Student Leadership club, pair with elementary teachers and their virtual classrooms to read aloud for K-6 students. Book Buddies plan to kick the program off this year with Read Across America Week but will continue beyond that. 

Once the Book Buddies are finished reading Matilda in the enrichment sessions, participating students will watch the movie adaptation together. From the illustrations within the book itself to the skills and creativity required to make the movie, the K-6 team is also focusing on all of the artistic concepts too. 

“Matilda was the first book that made me love reading,” high school English teacher Mrs. Donofrio noted. “I’m excited for our younger students to have that opportunity too.”

“We are excited about our Reading Across America plans with Matilda and will be continuing with this framework, with a different novel, each year down the road,” Mrs. Ploesch added. “I can tell our students are excited too.”

Stay tuned to hear about the Book Buddies program, more reading initiatives, and fun for our students here on the blog and on social media. Happy National Reading Month, everyone!

Sources: https://nationaltoday.com/national-read-across-america-day/, https://www.nea.org, https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/read-across-america