Dear Parents,

In partnership with the PTSA’s Diversity Committee, the District has designated May as Reading Without Walls month.

During Reading Without Walls month, we are encouraging students to explore books about characters that look or live differently than them; topics they haven’t discovered; or reading formats that they haven’t tried.  

Please mention this activity to your child and ask them to select a different kind of book than what they might typically read. It is also a wonderful opportunities to read and discuss a book together. I will be doing lots of “Pop Up” book reads with students across the District this month and I am looking forward to interesting discussions and stories.

Reading Without Walls challenges readers to do one of the following:

• Read a book about a character who doesn’t look like you or live like you.
• Read a book about a topic you don’t know much about.
• Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read for fun. This might be a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, a picture book, or a hybrid book.

Our school librarians, Annette Gonzalez in the Middle School/High School, and Allison Fabrizio at Springhurst, along with Literacy Coordinator Michelle Kaczmarek and classroom teachers are available to help students find all types of books and genres in their classroom or school libraries. The Dobbs Ferry Public Library is also a great resource for reading recommendations.

There are terrific resources on the Reading Without Walls website www.readingwithoutwalls.com for families interested in exploring this program with children of all ages.

Regards,

Lisa Brady, Ed.D
Superintendent

P.S. I’d love students to email me the name of their Reading Without Walls book choice at bradyl@dfsd.org and tell me why they picked that particular book! I’ll let you know my selection too!