Ossining “Detectives” Call on First-Graders for Help

Super-Secret Detective No. 1 and Super-Secret Detective No. 2 – aka Ossining Superintendent Raymond Sanchez and Director of Elementary Teaching and Learning Carrieann Sipos – took Brookside School by storm last Friday.

Wearing Sherlock Holmes-style deerstalker hats and wielding oversized magnifying glasses, they arrived at the school in search of assistance from first-graders, who recently earned their reading “badges.” The children did so by completing the “Word Detectives” unit of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project curriculum. Dr. Sanchez and Ms. Sipos asked the eager junior detectives for help deciphering a letter they received from Brookside Principal Ann Dealy.

As Super-Secret Detective No. 1 struggled to read tricky words like “Brookside” and “badges,” the children shouted out word-solving strategies they had learned, such as breaking long words into smaller parts. They also checked whether the words made sense, sounded right and looked right. Dr. Dealy’s letter asked the superintendent and Ms. Sipos to visit the school and celebrate students’ achievements.

After the presentation from the Super-Secret Detectives, each student chose a free book to take home. They all received a finger light to help with their word detecting work.

Cristopher Tenesaca, who selected “Meet the X-Men,” said his favorite part about learning to read is figuring out words that his teacher covers up with Post-it notes.

Camila Abanto chose LEGO Mixels “Let’s Mix” for her book. “It’s because I have a big LEGO set at home,” she said. “I build elephants.”

First-grader Amy Guallpa got excited when she walked into the assembly and saw tables full of books. “Yay, we’re picking books out,” she said. “I love reading because you get to learn something new and you get to read fun stories.”

Madison Cleveland, her classmate, said she is “super-excited” about reading. “I love reading and books inspire me because there’s so much stuff that I learn,” she said.