Roaring About Reading, ES Book Week

This year’s Elementary School Book Week was all about students discovering the power of stories—and a joyful reminder of how central literacy is to learning. Throughout the week, students, parents, and teachers came together to share books, learn from a visiting author, and dive into exciting reading activities. 

The week kicked off with workshops from author and illustrator George O’Connor, who met with every grade level for interactive talks and drawing sessions. He encouraged students to take creative risks and “make lots of mistakes” as part of thinking, drawing, and writing. Through reading and storytelling, he explained, students step into other people’s ideas and perspectives, building empathy, deepening understanding, and strengthening their own voices as creators and communicators. 

Students also participated in the Junior Battle of the Books competition, Read Aloud Rally, and Book Bingo, with parents right alongside them. The week concluded with Drop Everything and Read, when the entire Elementary School read at the same time, turning classrooms and hallways into spaces of discovery and imagination. 

“Reading is the foundation of everything we do,” said ES Librarian Beth Rohrbeck. “In the library and across ES, our goal is to nurture a lifelong love of reading so that students read for pleasure, for curiosity, and to connect with the world.” Strong literacy across languages and disciplines helps our students ask better questions, think critically about complex issues, and express their ideas clearly, all essential skills for being future-ready learners. 

Even though Book Week has ended, our students’ reading journey is just getting “louder.” ES has launched the 12-week ES Tigers Reading Roar Challenge, where every student contributes their minutes to reach our schoolwide goal of 2 million minutes read. In the first week alone, students have logged 27,820 minutes, a roaring start! As students track their daily reading in any language, they are building the habits of lifelong readers. We look forward to keeping the spirit of Book Week and the joy of reading alive all year long.