Killbuck hosts Reading Under the Lights
Area youth were invited to attend the inaugural Killbuck Reading Under the Lights event at Killbuck Park. Each youth could pick out five books and received a copy of the book, “Ish,” which was read in groups by community leaders.
The communities of Killbuck and Clark united at Killbuck Park recently to enjoy a night of fellowship, fun and reading with Reading Under the Lights.
“Ish” is a children’s book written by Peter Reynolds that followed the artistic journey of Ramon, a young boy who loves to draw. While his brother makes fun of his art, making Ramon feel depressed, his sister collects his crumpled-up drawings and plasters her wall with them. Ramon’s passion is rekindled when his sister said his drawings looked “ish,” as in tree-ish, vase-ish and boat-ish.
His sister’s encouragement helps Ramon realize his art is what he makes of it, and he continues to do what he enjoys.
The hope of Reading Under the Lights was that very notion, that the children in attendance would continue to read material throughout the summer that interests them, that piques their imagination and inspires them to pursue the things they enjoy.
Inspired by Wooster City’s Reading Under the Lights program, Killbuck Elementary and Clark Elementary united for their own evening of reading. Each child who came to the event could pick five books out of a mountain of reading material with the hope it would inspire them to read throughout the summer.
Killbuck Elementary teacher Molly Aylsworth, who spearheaded the event, said it is a perfect way to cap off a great school year while at the same time serving a greater purpose.
“It’s a literacy event to kick off summer reading for the kids,” Aylsworth said. “Research has shown that reading over the summer decreases that summer slide in reading ability for children. That is our hope, so we are allowing each child to pick out five books to get them kick-started in their summer reading.”
The evening event held at Killbuck Park featured a visit from a children’s book favorite, Clifford the Big Red Dog, as well as a visit from several featured community readers. That list included Lisa Lawhead, Carrie Jameson, Bill Sterling, Ted Thorpe, Robin Pritt, Ryan Haines and Megan Wallace, International United Miss Ohio Junior Preteen.
The students and their families came and enjoyed plenty of food and activities that kept them busy and were given a tote bag in which to lace their books. The children had pictures taken with Clifford, and at an allotted time, the featured readers all took groups of children to various areas around the park and read “Ish” to them.
“It’s all about promoting reading,” Aylsworth said.
The theme for Right to Read Week was “Dynamite Reading,” and Aylsworth said while the focus of the event was on the children, getting parents to attend and pick up the mantle of promoting reading to the kids was important.
“Making family reading a priority is only going to help the children in the long run,” Aylsworth said. “We have found that when families read together, the kids are more apt to be supported during the school year and encouraged to work hard and to read more. We had such a great turnout of entire families, which was exciting.”
Killbuck Elementary principal Carrie Maltarich said it was exciting to see so many area families investing in the event and encouraging the youngsters to read more. She said the success of the reading night should be more than enough to spur them to continue the evening as a tradition.
“My title staff, and especially Molly Aylsworth, has been outstanding,” Maltarich said. “I think Molly has been planning this event in her head since last year. For her to see her dream come to fruition is awesome, and to see this kind of response from the community is just as impressive. We firmly believe that having kids read in the summer closes that gap between this year and their next school year, and it prepares them to continue to grow in their education.”
Sponsors for the reading event were Killbuck Elementary PTO, Clark Elementary PTO, Killbuck Pizza Parlor, Joel Pomerene Hospital, Killbuck Savings Bank, Village Motors, Crow Works, Millersburg Tire, Rock River Lab, Commercial & Savings Bank and Burgett Insurance.
Aylsworth said the sponsors paid for the books, and much of the food for the evening also was donated.