{"id":96124,"date":"2024-04-18T16:21:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T16:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=96124"},"modified":"2024-04-18T16:21:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T16:21:37","slug":"houghton-hosts-community-reading-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/04\/18\/houghton-hosts-community-reading-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Houghton hosts Community Reading Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Danielle Ray<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

STERLING \u2014 Town officials, public safety personnel, and others participated in the March 29 Community Reading Day at Houghton Elementary School.<\/p>\n

It was the first time the annual literacy-focused event, which was launched in 2002, was held post-pandemic. The 15 community members invited to read to children in kindergarten through Grade 4 gathered in the school library, along with school staff, for coffee and pastries before being brought to classrooms by student escorts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really the hub of our elementary school, and something we take a lot of pride in,\u201d Houghton Principal Tony Cipro said of the library.<\/p>\n

He went on to say that the library houses more than 16,000 books and is run by a “legion” of dedicated parent volunteers. Cipro noted that PTO contributions enable them to upgrade their collection and that they are \u201cdoing a total makeover over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recreation Department Director Shari Gonsorcik was \u201chonored to represent the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m reading to the children who are coming through my programs, so it gives me a chance to get to know them more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Select Board Chair Maureen Cranson, a first time participant, read in the third-grade classroom, in which her grandson is a student. She said she was \u201ctickled pink and honored\u201d to be there, especially because it happened to fall on the same day her son Jeff Cranson passed away eight years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very appropriate to be here,\u201d the longtime town resident shared. \u201cIt makes sense to get out and keep going. Whatever you can do for your community makes it better for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The older students received bookmarks autographed by Lt. Steve Fugere from the Sterling Police Department and colorful stretch bracelets. After Postmaster Bob Marrama read to the kids in Renee Simons\u2019 first grade classrooms, he fielded questions.<\/p>\n

One student asked him what happens if there isn\u2019t an address on an envelope or package.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe postal carrier goes to 600 houses a day,\u201d Marrama explained. \u201cIf you live in a small town like Sterling, you get to know people by name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cipro, who has been principal of the school for 24 years, said \u201cThe opportunity to promote reading with community members sharing their job responsibilities, how reading plays a part in doing their jobs, and then modeling a read aloud of children’s literature sends a great message to our children. They are the future global community leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Danielle Ray Landmark Correspondent STERLING \u2014 Town officials, public safety personnel, and others participated in the March 29 Community Reading Day at Houghton Elementary School. It was the first time the annual literacy-focused event, which was launched in 2002, was held post-pandemic. The 15 community members invited to read to children in kindergarten through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}