Literacy week here
Published on November 27th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA - A poster on the wall of the South School's library and media center reads in part, "The more you read, the more you know. The more you know, the stronger you grow."
With wisdom such as this in mind, South School librarian Kathy Plati spent last week celebrating National Children's Book Week with a variety of fun and thought-provoking activities for South School students. National Children's Book Week, sponsored by The Children's Book Council and celebrated annually the week before Thanksgiving, seeks to promote the reading of children's books by children, adults, educators, and librarians. Kathy Plati used each classroom's 45 minute weekly visit to her library to honor this celebration, which began on Nov. 18.
First, Plati invited all her students to come to their scheduled library session dressed as their favorite literary character. On Friday morning, students in MaryLou Gardner's fourth grade arrived at the library to find Plati dressed as Pinocchio, sporting short pants, suspenders, and rosy red cheeks.
While dressing up as a favorite character was not mandatory for students, some students celebrated in high style. Fourth grader Christeena Decker sported a large, handmade pair of butterfly wings made from cardboard and colorful tissue paper in honor of the butterfly found at the end of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Carle, a children's author and illustrator, is well known for his vivid illustrations made from hand painted and cut tissue paper.
"I thought this would be a good costume to make because I think his pictures are great," said Decker. "His pictures remind me of paper mache art."
Jen Warren and best friend Amanda Cortesi chose to collaborate and dress up as Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, characters from the Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling.
"They seemed like great characters, and we both like the Harry Potter books," said Warren.
In addition to this invitation to dress up, Plati offered students nearly a dozen hands-on activity stations to choose from during their 45 minute visit. Each station was designed to celebrate reading and learning in creative ways.
As parent volunteers Kim Bramante, Linda Flynn, and Lisa Gallagher looked on, students spread out to the various stations. At one station a long and tricky tongue twister was prominently displayed on the wall.
Students were challenged to see how quickly they could recite the tongue twister, as their times were recorded on a nearby chart by a time keeper. Patrick Canavan was congratulated for the impressive feat of reciting the passage in just 15 seconds.
At another station Plati set out a buzzer machine, connected to two hand-held devices, on which a student could press a button to be the first to set off the buzzer and answer a trivia question read by a fellow student. Vanessa Bramante took just seconds before setting off the buzzer and shouting, "Soccer," to answer Amanda Cortesi's question, "What sport is the most popular worldwide?"
A third table offered riddles, the answer to which had to be two rhyming words. As she explained this station to the fourth grade class, Plati asked, "Who can give me two rhyming words that mean chubby feline?" "Fat cat," shouted one student quickly. At yet another station equipped with art supplies, students were invited to make their own bookmark.
For computer fans, Plati offered computers for enjoying some poetry or the children's computer program Kid Pix. For math fans, Plati put out dominoes and tangrams, small plastic shapes used to form larger shapes and pictures.
With a little help from regular parent volunteers, Plati converted the book shelving area into a "Storybook Museum", complete with a carefully crafted sign made by a parent. On top of shelves, nearly a dozen favorite children's books like Stone Soup, Miss Spider's Tea Party, and The Wizard of Oz were displayed with related objects such as Dorothy's ruby slippers.
Plati's colleagues and parent volunteers are quick to praise Plati's work.
"I just think we are blessed to have Kathy Plati here," said parent and South School PTO co-president Lisa Gallagher. "She's not just a librarian, she's also a wonderful teacher. She allows students to learn in creative ways."
Gallagher is happy to see this sort of hands-on, creative learning which Plati strives for throughout the school year. Last month, for example, students learned about acrostic poetry by writing their own acrostic poem about a family member. Principal Nick Leonardos also admires Plati's approach.
"These activities are Kathy's brainchild," he said. "She's been very creative." Leonardos points out additional school wide activities implemented by Plati, including story contests and a challenging "no t.v. week" for students.
Plati, who taught English at Stoneham High for 26 years before becoming an elementary school librarian three years ago, is quick to return the praise of parents.
"I couldn't do activities like this without the mothers' help," she said. "I've never seen parents so involved. They are always here when I need them."
The Children's Book Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to literacy for children. Founded in 1919, the council uses celebrations like National Children's Book Week to further their mission, still relevant 83 years later.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!