Northeast Elementary participates in National Read Across America Day

Northeast Elementary principal Kendra Woods asks a class which book they liked the most during Friday’s event. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News

The love for reading was prevalent at Northeast Elementary Friday.

March 1 is known as National Read Across America Day and locally, Northeast got in on the action. Volunteers came to the school to read books to children in more than two dozen classrooms.

Among the volunteers was Tah’Ron Cannon, who said he jumped at the opportunity.

“I heard about what they were doing here and I wanted to do my part to help the young people,” Cannon said.

David Jones, father of Northeast librarian Marissa Jones, came to visit her from Ohio, along with his daughter and three grandchildren. All five aided with reading to children.

“When we heard about the event, we decided to help out while we were here,” Jones said. “It was a great opportunity to read to the children and we enjoyed it.”

Northeast fourth grader T’keyah Foggs said she loved the event.

“It was so good hearing them read,” Foggs said.

Fellow fourth-grader Andrew Bellamy shared similar sentiments.

“It was funny and silly,” Bellamy said.

Shatia Simmons, a third-grade teacher at the school, said the participation was wonderful.

“To have community members read to the kids was tremendous,” Simmons said. “They all talked about the importance of reading, not just in the classroom but in everyday life.”

Northeast Principal Kendra Woods said all parties enjoyed themselves.

“It was a very positive event and it was great to have adults showing the importance of reading,” Woods said. “During the morning, we had the volunteers come in and read, then in the afternoon the older students would read to the younger ones.”

Janiel Brown, manager of teacher leadership and development for Teach For America, helped facilitate the event but said the community made it what it became.

“I am super excited about the turnout,” Brown said. “This was more of a community event than a Teach For America one. We had some great volunteers and the kids had a lot of fun listening to the stories and also seeing themselves represented. African-American kids see themselves in less than 10 percent in books, so this was also a great opportunity to show them through the stories.”