‘Seuss’ on the loose at Moonshot Family Literacy fest

More than 200 children and their families went on a Seussical journey at Dodgertown Elementary School last Saturday during the third annual Moonshot Moment Family Literacy Festival. Using a theme built on “Oh the places you will go,” by Dr. Seuss, the event promoted the importance of embracing new opportunities and trying new things.

To honor the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, a few of his friends dropped by, including The Cat in the Hat, Sam I Am, and Horton, who all posed with festival-goers and added to the “Seuss-ational” day.

The event has continued to grow over the three years since organizer Michele Holiday first approached The Learning Alliance with the idea of holding a free literacy festival in the Gifford Community. It has since built upon the collaborative framework of The Learning Alliance’s Moonshot Community Action Network (MCAN), with the community working together to help turn the tide on the growing literacy epidemic. According to the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, one in six children in the U.S. are not reading proficiently in third grade.

“The reading gap we have with our kids is not solely on the teachers’ and schools’ shoulders. We have to do our part as a community to help our families, to help our children build better literacy,” said Holiday.

Activities were designed to show the children that reading is fun, and to give parents ideas on ways to work with them at home. Youngsters excitedly traveled from station to station, reading words, letters and books, playing games and making crafts, matching alphabet beans and playing sight word games, building sentences, and going on a letter scavenger hunt.

“I am so impressed with all the ideas and activities Michele put together. They are very well-developed literacy activities based on neuroscience. And everyone had so much fun,” said Marie O’Brien, TLA Moonshot outreach manager.

After getting their fill of pizza and cupcakes, children visited the Moonshot Moment Bookmobile and the Moonshot Moment Rocket.

Heeding Dr. Seuss, who said “you’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child,” members of the community pitched in to support the Moonshot goal of having 90 percent of all students reading at or above grade-level by third grade.

Angela Thomas Peterson emceed a finger-snapping Poetry Slam Competition, kicked off by poet Dorrian Bridges with a recitation of some of his work, before younger participants, including a 5-year-old and 10 Pelican Island third-grade students, had their turn.

“They came in early every day before school to work on their props and practice their poems,” said teacher Karen Whelan. “This was such a good experience for them.”

“We are so grateful to Michele and her parents for caring about literacy in the community. They are truly a model for other churches to see how they can support the Moonshot Moment literacy movement. This is a great way for us to reach families and spread the message about the importance of reading,” said O’Brien.

For more information, visit thelearningalliance.org.

Photos by: Kaila Jones
Click HERE to see more or buy photos

facebook twitter pinterest linkedin