In honor of this year’s Literacy Week, new elementary assistant principal Allison Sheppard decided to start fresh with the week’s themed activities. Traditionally partnering up with Alta Vista Elementary School in honor of the annual state-wide celebration, this year Sheppard decided to even further expand Pine View’s outreach to also include Visible Men’s Academy in Manatee county, to increase the impact of the initiative. The week included festivities such as a novel themed door decorating contest, poetry slam, book club and various student-led productions.
Out of the entire week, the most notable day was Thursday featuring the Literacy Lollapalooza, where students from Alta Vista and Visible Men got to celebrate literacy alongside Pine View students. The event allowed students to experience a literary deep dive through various station activities and peer experiences.
Sheppard noted that her favorite moments from the week were seeing the Pine View students interact with those from the other schools and be so open to sharing their campus and experiences.
“The teachers were so grateful, and it really made us want to do more [outreach], not just during Literacy Week,” Sheppard said.
In addition to the multitude of classroom based activities, the Rotary Club of Sarasota presented every second-grader with the book, “Amazing Grace.“
Photos by middle-school journalists Brenna Cullen, Shelby Brann, Coltrane Marcusky, Emma Reynolds, Jiayi Zhu, Lindsay Luberecki, Madilyn Hagney, Ryan Purdy, Ben Gordon and Tanvi Senthil.