We just want to make sure that kids are reading and not falling through the cracks.
HARLINGEN — Odilia Itoe moves through the hallways filled with children, mascots, posters and book reports.
“Here they are all working on a project for robotics,” says Odilia, 11, a sixth grader at Coakley Middle School.
Odilia is a reading ambassador, one of several at Coakley, and Tuesday night’s “Celebrate Literacy with CMS” event has been coordinated to promote a love of reading.
We’ve entered a room where kids have gathered around a table with small pieces of a robotic vehicle.
The school orchestra entertains the students, parents and teachers who look over posters with bright colors and names of students writing about a book they’ve read.
Pete the Tiger, Curious George, Chip and Cookie, and students in playful costumes circulate through the crowd giving high fives and fist bumps. Kids color bookmarks and read through book displays and serve refreshments.
Diane Hale, instructional coach, explains that for a variety of reasons reading scores decline between fifth and sixth grade. This has been a historic occurrence long before the pandemic hit.
“We just want to make sure that kids are reading and not falling through the cracks,” she says.
She gestures toward Odilia, “She’s one of our top readers.”
Hale continues, “Earlier in the year, we went to Sam Houston, and we read to second graders. They’re all sixth graders.”
I think it’s important that they don’t just get reading here at school, but also when they go home, that they still have a love for it at home
As Odilia moves through the hallway she points out the different people, places and activities throughout the school.
“Here they are making bookmarks and coloring bookmarks,” she says in one room.
In another room, she says, “Here they have snacks and drinks. You can get a water and a juice.”
Three girls wait behind a table filled with chocolate chip cookies, wedding cookies, red punch and small bottles of water.
“It’s pretty fun,” says Graison Ruiz, 12, another reading ambassador.
“We just had to load out the cookies and put them out,” Graison says.
Her mother, Monique Ruiz, is glad her daughter was selected as a reading ambassador and appreciates the literacy event Tuesday.
“I think it’s important that they don’t just get reading here at school, but also when they go home, that they still have a love for it at home,” Ruiz says. “I think it’s a great event. We have a good turnout. I think it’s good for us to get our community here involved in an event like this.”
The literacy event is the first of its kind at Coakley, but Principal Pedro Sanchez hopes it becomes a yearly program.
“It’s going phenomenally well, really good turnout,” Sanchez says. “We have a lot of support from our students, parents and community. I feel this is very important. It’s a great way to meet and connect with parents.”
