Witherspoon elementary to hold book character parade

By By Lynette Wilson / staff writer
Nov. 22, 2002
Witherspoon Elementary School prekindergarten through third-grade students will dress as their favorite literary character today and parade around the school's perimeter.
The Book Character Parade is part of the school's Reading is Fundamental book distribution program and is sponsored in part by the Barksdale Reading Institute. Children will dress as tigers, dragons, giraffes, butterflies, lady bugs and other characters from books and march around the school while chanting reading slogans. The students will also receive a free book to add to their home library at the end of the parade.
Witherspoon teaches both the Success for All and the Barksdale Reading Institute's reading programs.
Lee said the goal is the same to have children reading at a proficient level by the end of the third grade. She said the different approaches help teachers reach all students. The students are taught Success for All in the morning and the Barksdale's program is incorporated into language arts, social studies and science in the afternoon.
Brenda Edwards, Witherspoon principal, said the Barksdale program, which the school started two years ago, has been a tremendous help to students and teachers.
Edwards said the program also funds a parent resource center where parents can check out books and computer-based reading materials.
Success for All is in its fourth year and, Edwards said, test scores have improved.
Edwards said teaching both reading programs simultaneously was a challenge at first, but once the teachers became familiar with it, the two began to work well together.