One Book, One School Program Successfully Launches in Dedham Elementary Schools

The Dedham Elementary schools are participating in a One School, One Book program, generously funded by the Dedham Educational Partnership. One School, One Book program is designed to create a shared reading experience within a single elementary school community. All students in each school are reading the same book and participating in a variety of programs and activities related to the book.

Avery students read The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. The entire school celebrated the beginning of the program with a spirit day. Avery students are “Crazy About Reading” and held a “Crazy Hat and Hair Day” to launch the program. The entire Avery school then filmed a video celebrating reading which can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/122159626. An afternoon of community-building activities and a showing of the video culminated the project on March 27th.

Greenlodge School reads The World According to Humphrey by Betty Birney. Third graders Brian Croscup, Patrick Dockham, Ella Welch, Stella McDermott, Ava O’Donnel, Camryn Richardson, Sophia Perillo and Daniel Lopez dazzled the school with their reader’s theatre performance of the first chapter of the One Book, One School kickoff on Read Across America Day. Third grader Ella Welsh starred in the leading role as Humphrey the Hamster, a classroom pet with a knack for changing lives. Fifth graders Hannah Wilcox, Alicia Pinet, and Cameron Kimble made the scenery. https://vimeo.com/121252209 (Password is 2015Greenlodge)

Oakdale students read Clementine by Sara Pennypacker. The program was kicked off with an all-school assembly where all students were asked to wear orange. Students participated in a “Guess the Reader” game where they tried to identify hidden staff members reading Clementine. Principal, Holli Armstrong, read the first chapter. At the conclusion of the assembly, every child received a clementine, donated by Star Market. Oakdale students and staff then created a video to create excitement around the program. The lyrics to the popular “All About that Bass” song were changed to “All About the Books” https://vimeo.com/119283308. A school-wide culminating project will be showcased in the gym at the end of April.

Penguins were very popular at Riverdale when students returned from the holiday break as they all began to read Mr. Popper’s Penguins. The One Book, One School was kicked off with a short assembly to explain the program and listen to the first chapter together. Students were asked to wear black and white that day as a part of the penguin theme. Throughout the program activities included weekly trivia contests, penguin-themed interactive bulletin boards of penguin math and writing. On the day before vacation, students watched the movie version of the book and had a short trivia contest by grade level. Riverdale School showcased lovely penguin decorations around the school thanks to the efforts of art teacher, Ms. Castonguay. The staff is currently working on a video to be released in late April about Mr. Popper’s Penguins and the importance of reading to complete the One Book, One School experience.

Dedham’s One Book, One School program has allowed for great conversation and connections to happen between students school-wide. Uniting all students and staff with the same book has helped to build communities of readers in our schools. Moving forward, the books will be collected and redistributed to the next Dedham elementary school in the cycle, creating a four year rotation of books, and a future of middle school readers with a common reading history in the Dedham community. All videos can be viewed on Dedham TV on the education channels (Verizon 38, RCN 15 and Comcast 99) Check local listings for the most up-to-date information and on http://www.dedhamfilms.com.