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Prattville Primary Kicks off Read Across America Week in Exciting Fashion

By Andrew Edwards

Elmore/Autauga News

National Read Across America Day swept through Prattville on Tuesday afternoon, with schools and businesses highlighting the importance of reading to the city’s children.

Every year, the month of March is deemed “National Reading Month.” The start of this is initiated with “Read Across America Day” on March 2, which is also the birthday of one of the most beloved children’s book authors of all time — Dr. Seuss.

Read Across America Day is a reading program, which calls upon everyone to read and engage with children to make reading a more fun and interactive experience.

The National Education Association (NEA), which has been leading the Read Across America initiative since 1998, has helped to promote reading across the nation with events organized in libraries, schools, book clubs, and communities.

Locally, Prattville Primary School is celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday with a week-long extravaganza that features a cat-in-the-hat day, crazy sock day, spirit day, wacky day, and green-eggs-and-ham day. 

While COVID has forced the school to cancel their in-person Dr. Suess night, Assistant Principal Joseph Cochran says that spirits have still been high in the hallways.

“Obviously, we love to have the students and parents out for the usual Dr. Suess night. We typically have the kids perform a play, and there’s food and refreshments. It’s a great way for parents to see what their children are learning,” Cochran said. “However, with COVID, we had to scrap that this year. But, the children are still having a great time with Read Across America week and all our activities that come with it.”

On Tuesday afternoon, primary school children got to wear their favorite crazy socks to class – which Cochran said was one of the school favorites.

“There’s been a lot of participation from the students, and I have several kids come up to me in the hallways everyday letting us know how much they enjoy the week,” Cochran said.

While the county is still in the midst of a pandemic, fun events can certainly be scarce to come by. That’s why Cochran says the school still needed to celebrate Read Across America Week.

“It’s been a tough year for everyone, but especially for the kids. Most of them have to stay in their classroom all day long without any interaction from the outside. We felt like an informative, fun week like this would help to raise spirts,” Cochran said.

And spirits certainly were raised as children came out in droves on crazy-sock Tuesday to show their appreciation for not only Dr. Suess, but for the Primary School as well. The hallways were lined with students dressed in mismatched socks and exotic hats, and not a single one without a smile on their face.

“We hope to get back to some semblance of normalcy soon, but for now, we’ll take great weeks like this,” Cochran said.

See more photos below!