by Kelly Oberndorf
December 1st-5th was Literacy Week at ISB, five days celebrating reading, writing, and words in general with fun literacy-oriented events!
On Monday, we kicked off the week’s events by asking students to participate in a ‘No Screen Challenge’, in which they pledged not to watch TV or use technology for four days (unless necessary for school work). This was no easy feat for our students, who are accustomed to using technology for work and entertainment, but an impressive number of them were excited to take part in the challenge. Participating students were given an activity sheet to document the fun and creative ways that they used their free time – time they would have otherwise spent in front of the TV or tablet. When asked what they did instead of using electronics, they shared some great stories about helping to cook dinner, reading books, crafting, and spending quality time with family.
On Wednesday, it was great to see so many students dressed in their pajamas for ‘Cozy Up and Read Pajama Day’ – even some of our teachers participated! We paired our “Pajama Day” with an extended D.E.A.R (Drop Everything and Read), a daily activity during Literacy Week in which we announced a 20-minute reading session at a surprise time each day. Younger students were encouraged to use this time to read with their reading buddies, and older students.
We followed “Pajama Day” with some Literacy Week craft projects on Thursday. Students made and decorated bookmarks, and Art Teacher Carolina Bermudez hosted workshops teaching our older students how to make books. The process was fun and the results were impressive! You can see some of the students’ books and bookmarks in the photos below.
There were literacy-themed games throughout the week. In one, students tried to guess staff members’ favorite books from childhood, and in another, we attempted our first ever ‘Hallway Scrabble’ game, in which classes were given letters to create a web of words up and down the corridors. Many students also brought in books for our first-ever ISB Book Swap! Students gathered in the cafeteria on Friday to exchange books they had brought in throughout the week for ones they haven’t read yet. This was a huge success, and those who participated went home with new books, excited to read.
Literacy Week culminated with a very successful 4th Annual Multilingual Poetry Slam, held in collaboration with Red Hook Initiative. It was great to see so many students out on a rainy day to participate in poetry workshops and present their poetry to other students and families. Stay tuned for a dedicated blog post about the Poetry Slam in January, including poems and video performances from our talented student poets. Although this year’s Literacy Week is over, our enthusiasm for literacy and words will continue throughout the year!
