One District, One Book. Each District 742 elementary school family, including those at Clearview Elementary, received the book, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, to read together during the month of February, which is also ‘I Love to Read’ month.

 

The One District, One Book program originated with Read to Them, a non-profit organization whose mission is to create a culture of literacy in every home. The National Commission on Reading states, “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” Research has also found that shared story reading at home is linked with children’s literacy achievement in school.

 

To go along with Mr. Popper’s Penguins and ‘I Love to Read’ month, classes at Clearview have done a variety of penguin themed activities. In art teacher Kathy Gerdts-Senger’s second through sixth grade classes, the students had the opportunity to work on nine different penguin art activities, from drawing and painting penguins to creating penguin masks and puppets.

 

Students were scattered around the art room, based on what activities interested them the most. Sewing small stuffed penguins appeared to be the most popular creation for girls, while penguin masks lured the boys.

 

“Art is my favorite special,” said one student, working at the draw a penguin station.

 

“The materials looked really interesting and I’ve never really done a collage before,” said another, who was creating a penguin collage picture.

 

Newbery Honor award winner Mr. Popper’s Penguins, written by Richard and Florence Atwater and originally published in 1938, was chosen as this year’s selection in part to promote the classics. It tells the story of Mr. Popper and his family who unexpectedly come to possess a penguin named Captain Cook. They then receive a female penguin from the zoo and end up with 10 baby penguins. As the penguins grow the Poppers can’t afford to feed them all and realize something must be done. The results are humorous and heartwarming, a perfect combination for families to read together.