Celebrating reading in Sisters school

Sisters Elementary School (SES) celebrated reading last week, with local author Joyce Burk Brown, who read her and co-author Linda Wolff’s children’s book, “The Magic in Listening.”

The author reading was the culmination of an entire Reading Across America week at the school celebrating reading and practicing habits such as active listening. Reading Across America’s official date was March 2, also author Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Read Across America was created to help kids get excited about reading. Events take place at schools across the nation.

Celebrating Read Across America week is a long tradition at SES. This year they celebrated in a variety of ways, including dressing up each day with a theme connected to a specific Dr. Seuss book. On Wednesday, the SES nutrition service team served a meal of green eggs and ham.

On Wednesday, March 1, the Sisters High School Outlaws baseball team read books to the first-grade classes.

On Thursday, the official Read Across America Day, many classes spent the day reading books in comfortable spaces in their classrooms.

On Friday, they ended the week with an assembly featuring Burk Brown, whose book connects to the “Leader in Me Habit of the month”: Seek first to understand; then to be understood.

Author Burk Brown said, “I am so grateful to have been asked to participate in the Read Across America celebration with all the students at the Sisters Elementary School. Books allow us to learn, meet new friends, and have adventures. As an author I shared about what it was like to write and publish a children’s book. ‘The Magic in Listening’ was written by me and Linda B. Wolff and illustrated by Hannah King. The animals in our story help children learn about all parts of listening, i.e., looking, hearing, being patient, kind, and quiet. It was a great support literature for their Leader in Me program. The skill they are working on now is listening.”

You can find the book at various locations in Sisters including Deschutes County Library System and Paulina Springs Books, Wildflower Gallery and Gifts, Ear Expressions (and gifts), and on Amazon.

Through their phonics programs and curriculum, SES is emphasizing the importance of reading, and learning how reading works from a young age.