What an EXCITING day our bees had Thursday, as we enjoyed our first assembly with a special kick off for Read Across Southlawn! Adapting the Read Across America program, which promotes inclusion, diversity and motivation for children to become readers, we believe that Read Across Southlawn will instill a passion and curiosity within the pages between a book's spine and will foster readers that become leaders. Our assembly was nothing short of igniting that light as we came together to unify the school with a shared goal: READ. The energy of the student body was taken to a level higher as our special guest speakers brought in motivation and excitement to read. Their love for reading was demonstrated to our students as they shared their hand selected favorite children stories.

Mayor Ben Huseman began with How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. The book is amongst many of the other great titles from the popular scholastic book series “How Do Dinosaurs'' and was received with comforting smiles. The light-hearted and comical approach to reading as seen by the dinosaurs first acting silly with the books helped ease that overwhelming feeling our young readers may have when first starting their journey into reading. The story ended with the dinosaurs treating their books respectfully and reading a lot!

Next, former Denver Nuggets Player and Coach, Mark Randall, had our bees hysterically laughing as he animatedly read the story A Big Guy Took My Ball by Mo Willems. Mark's booming, lively read-a-loud tickled the kids (yes, even the 5th graders), as they received a powerful lesson in inclusivity and how assumptions fuel misunderstanding. Mark also spoke to our bees about the value of reading in life and how it is a priceless tool that has helped him conquer his goals all throughout his life and reminded our young minds that it starts now. He spoke of how the students can take control of their future and it starts with a strong foundation in the love and appreciation of reading. We couldn’t agree more!

Our last guest speaker was Head Coach of the Prairie View High School Dance Team, Miss Madeline Kelly. She was accompanied by some of PVHS star students and the mascots Bolt and Lightning. Their engaging reading of Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andre and Guy Parker Rees, turned out to be a book and a show as mascots playfully acted out the story during the read aloud. You may even ask your kids to show you some of their dance moves; you’ll be in for a treat!

In short, the assembly was a success and leaves the promise of more exciting times to come together as a beehive. To conclude our kick off, bees and staff alike enjoyed 30 minutes of reading in their classrooms and got to escape into the endless possibilities stories offer. When a child hasn’t found the love for reading we believe they just haven’t found the right books they’re interested in. Please help us foster a love of books by visiting a library, or using the internet to search for book ideas based on things like their hobbies, sports, dream careers, or favorite characters to name a few. Let’s plant those seeds and enjoy the curious minds that sprout.