ECC's Reading Week offers volumes of fun

HAPPY HATS: These are just two of the ECC classrooms that were filled with students wearing their creative hats for Friday’s unique and fun-filled Vocabulary Parade.

(Sun Rise photos by Pete Fontaine)

MATT’S MATES: ECC physical education teacher Matthew Velino shows his true colors, a Green Bay Packers Cheesehead hat, prior to leading a group of students in Friday’s Vocabulary Parade.

CREATIVE CORNER: These girls are an example of the many ECC students who enjoyed making special hats and participated in Friday’s Vocabulary Parade.

DYNAMIC DUO: Literacy Coach Felicia Chionchio (left) and Art Teacher Kim Marshall helped make the ECC’s Ready Week special with a variety of events including Friday’s unique Vocabulary Parade.

CARLA’S CREW: ECC teacher Carla Caliri joins her students during Friday’s Vocabulary Parade that went off without a hitch and no interruption from bad weather.

PEGGGY’S PAL: Peggy Lessa, a teacher at the ECC, helps a student adjust his hat prior to Friday’s unique Vocabulary Parade.

BEST BETS: This is the ECC Book Worm that featured the titles of the 100 books students had to read last week in Johnston.

Johnston Sun Rise · Thursday, May 4, 2017 1:51 pm

By Pete Fontaine

There were handmade decorations everywhere inside Johnston’s Early Childhood Center last week.

There was artwork on bulletin boards and classroom doors, with each piece geared towards education and to represent books such as those by well-known children’s author Eric Carle. Rooms K-108 and K-109 were creatively done in Carle’s “The Tiny Seed” and “The Very Grouchy Lady Bug,” respectively.

It was Reading Week at the ECC, Johnston’s highly-successful, nearly two-year-old all-day kindergarten, with each day featuring a different program planned and organized by Felicia Chionchio, the school’s literacy coach.

The ECC kicked off Ready Week with the kindergarten teachers serving as guest readers in different classes. On Tuesday, the ECC celebrated “Reading with Me Day” and the students as well as the teachers wore words and classes took time to “read” each other’s work. On Wednesday, students wore pajamas and brought their favorite stuffed animal and storybook.

“Students enjoyed our get cozy and read time that day,” said Chionchio, one of many veteran ECC teachers that participated in the Read Week program. “The walls and classroom doors were decorated to represent books and some of the classes had to ‘tour the doors’ to guess the books on each door.”

Last Friday was perhaps the most fun-filled and creative of all Reading Week Days.

“This is our ‘Vocabulary Hat Parade,’” Chionchio said.

The colorful Vocabulary Parade made its way out of the ECC and continued alongside the school and it wound around the School Administration offices back into the school.

Chionchio also explained there was a school-wide challenge to read 100 books, and as books were read the title was added to the ECC Book Worm.

“Our students also participated in book trivia each day,” Chionchio said. “We also had a guest author, Eric Sturtevant, visiting our school for the third time to share his work.”