Colonial School District: Power The Panther And Other Mascots Help Ridge Park Students Get Excited About Reading

Press release from the Colonial School District:

2021-03-15

Ridge Park Elementary School (RP) kicked off Read Across America Week with a video that featured second grade teacher Meagan Hendrickson and librarian Kathy Farrington explaining Read Across America to Power, the school panther mascot.

Power, the Ridge Park mascot, seeing itself in books about panthers.

Through the video, Power and the RP students learned that Read Across America is the world's biggest celebration of reading.

"We should celebrate reading, because reading can teach you and entertain you," said Molly Marquis, a second grader at RP. "It can be funny or informational."

The video also covered the different themes for each day at the school and included a read aloud by author Andrea Wang.

"My favorite activity from Read Across America week was dressing up as our favorite book character," said RP first grader Dylan Makatche. "I was Jack from Magic Tree House."

While Power helped introduce Read Across America to the RP students, other local mascots sent messages during the week to encourage reading, as well.

Click here to see a message from the Philadelphia Flyers' mascot, Gritty.

Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty and the Phillie Phanatic both sent messages to the students.

Click here to see a message from the Philadelphia Phillies' mascot, the Phillie Phanatic.

"Since we were limited in how we could celebrate this year, I wanted students to still feel the excitement," said Mrs. Hendrickson. "Gritty and the Phanatic inspire us to know that, just like in sports, reading takes practice to make progress."

Read Across America is sponsored across the country by the National Education Association and in the District by the Colonial Education Association. This year the event focuses on the celebration of diverse readers and writers. Colonial School District has embraced this theme in a number of different ways across its schools.

This press release was produced by the Colonial School District .The views expressed here are the author’s own.