The weeklong event emphasized the importance of reading and featured several different themed days. Michelle Buccola and Holly Brainard, AIS reading teachers, coordinated PARP week and are also responsible for the reading program that Temple implements over the summer.

Temple hosted one of its many PARP related events on Thursday and invited parents along, too. The “Reading Across America Night” opened the elementary school’s doors to parents and students during the evening for a group reading session.

The reading event took place with three different locations in the school reading different books. Teachers from Temple participated in the reading, and students got the chance to sit with their parents to listen to the stories.

“We want kids to come out and enjoy a night of reading,” Buccola said.

Each day of the week featured a different theme, with Dr. Seuss discussed on Friday. P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

Primarily, the books and the themes focused around Dr. Seuss, whose birthday was Friday. Brainard and Buccola said the age range of the books he wrote fit perfectly with students at Temple and wanted the reading week to coincide with Seuss’ birthday.

“Just having the families come out together with the kids rekindles the fact that books are fun,” Brainard said.

Each of the three classrooms with teachers reading to students and parents featured a different book. During the almost two-hour event, there were different time slots for reading to allow each family to hear each story.

Brainard and Buccola expressed great appreciation for the teachers who volunteered to be readers for the PARP event.

Those volunteers from Temple included Vicky Boughton, Rich Bianco, Holly Hannon, Pat Kibbe, Amy Melquist and Tara VandeVelde.

Throughout the week, each day featured a different theme. On Monday, the students were treated to the PARP week kick-off assembly that showcased a “Green Eggs and Ham” parody video with students from Temple and on Thursday students were allowed to wear pajamas in association with pajama day.

Students were given a reading assignment each night and were also reading a book-of-the-day while at school. Students who kept with their readings were given prizes at the end of the week,

“People just love to sit and be read to, no matter what age,” Brainard said.