On March 5, students, teachers and parents around the FASD community gathered at Freedom Area Elementary School to celebrate learning and express the importance of reading in the annual Story Walk event.
The Story Walk, a tradition that has been continued consecutively for approximately eight years, has also been a highly-anticipated event for students from the Big Knob and Conway elementary schools.
This is the first year that the Story Walk took place in the new elementary building. Each year, students gather to complete crafts, read books, listen to stories and get prizes.
With the “Mystery” theme, all of the kids participated in a search to find who stole cookies from the cookie jar. After finding the clues, they were paid a visit by the Freedom Bulldog.
The halls were adorned with question marks and hidden clues, while the floors were covered in footsteps. The parents followed their children as they raced to follow the footsteps to every classroom.
The day began with each child receiving name identification tags and top secret folders, which they took with them to their class rotation. Freedom Area Elementary School Principal Mr. Richard Edder also gave an introductory speech in the auditorium. In doing this, he revealed the agenda for the day and asked the question “Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?” that sparked the children’s imaginations.
Each rotation was unique; some had teachers reading stories and others had hands-on activities. The crafts, also geared toward mysteries, included uncovering secret messages using lemon juice and paint, fingerprint art and making their own detective hats. “Splat the Cat,” “The Mystery of the Missing Mitten,” “Mystery at Eat-Um Hall,” “Grandpa’s Teeth and Private I. Guana” were stories read by the teachers during the rotations.
After several rotations, the kids and their parents met back in the auditorium for a chance to win raffle prizes of books and a $25 gift card to Walmart. Edder addressed the audience once more and each child was given a book to keep. The students also discovered that the Freedom Bulldog was the culprit.
“I enjoyed seeing the kids so excited about reading and solving the mystery,” FHS teacher Mr. Ed Majors, who has a daughter in the elementary school, said.
“Anna really enjoyed the Story Walk and was excited about trying to solve the mystery. I think she will remember that excitement and may choose to read some more mystery books in the future.”
The whole day is meant to inspire the children to read and for them to see the value of educating themselves through stories.
“That’s the thing about reading: it can be low-key and informative, but it can also be fun,” Edder said.
To keep this wonderful tradition alive, two key things are necessary: people willing to help and money to afford the expenses.
Edder, being the ultimate forerunner of the operation, acquired assistance from the elementary reading specialists: Mrs. Linda Girty, Mrs. Lisa Levenson and Mrs. Kim Smith. Together, they combined forces to prepare one of the largest events of the year for the elementary.
All of the teachers pitched in to help, and students from the high school volunteered their time as well.
“The teachers spent a significant time of extra hours,” Edder said.
Lots of preparation was involved with the event, including decorating the school and the clean-up afterwards. Leading up to the Story Walk, the teachers built excitement by hanging question marks around the hallways and having the students participate in solving mini-mysteries during the school day.
“It took us many hours to write the grant, choose books and activities to go along with the theme, order the books and materials, create the schedule, invitations and clues and prepare the activities,” Girty said on behalf of the reading specialists.
In order to pick the themes, the leaders gather together to pour through which genres are the most popular at that time of year for those age groups.
As for the money, the event is funded with the help from the Beaver County Educational Trust. In previous years, the trust awarded the school $500. This year, they were given $1,000.
Among the people previously mentioned, Edder also had to thank the Beaver County Educational Trust, FHS Principal Mr. William Deal, the entire faculty and custodial and maintenance staff for their constant support.
Now that the all students from FASD are on one campus, events that bring the entire community together are much more meaningful. The kids’ happiness and brilliant smiles as they bounded from classroom to classroom were proof that this year’s annual Story Walk was successful.