Roanoke Elementary School Students Participate in 'Turn Off Your TV Week'

Roanoke Avenue Elementary School students participated in the annual ‘Turn Off Your TV Week’ from May 4 to May 8.

Students once again this year took on the challenge, which was titled “Unplug and Play”, by turning off electronic devices and turning on to other forms of entertainment and learning.

According to teacher Georgette Keller, students were asked to keep a list of activities they did in place of watching television or playing video games.

The students participated activities such as a ‘Milk and Cookies’ evening, on Thursday students and their families were invited to take part in an evening that allowed them to make a present of flowers for their Mother’s Day gift, stop by and touch a sea creature at the touch tank provided by Atlantis Aquarium, make or a color a fish picture, pick out a book from the Scholastic Book Fair in the library, or just play on the playground.

At home, the student reported that they read books (like Minecraft), joined their moms in the kitchen, played outdoors, took a walk together as a family, played board games, helped their parents with the lawn and garden work and a variety of other outdoor activities, according to Keller.

The promotion of the weeklong effort was organized by the reading/literacy teachers at Roanoke, who know the consequences of too much time spent in front of the television or in front of screens on computers and gaming devices.

The purpose of the week was to re-think the role of television in the home and to become aware of the harmful effects of excessive amounts of television viewing and the positive possibilities that might result from the other options.
“All the credit for this week-long effort goes to the Literacy/Reading teachers,” Roanoke Principal Tom Payton said. “They organized the whole event.“

Photos courtesy of Riverhead Central School District

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