Kindergarten students throughout the district received a gift bag filled with books and activities to support literacy today.
The goal of the project is to encourage families to work on literacy skills at home. The project, supported by the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation, South Hy-Vee, Fareway, and Ottumwa Schools, created activity bags for students to take home and use over the holiday break. The bags include a few leveled books and activities to do with their family. All activities support kindergarten literacy instruction. Several district teachers contributed activities to be included in the bags.
The bags are modeled after “Begindergarten” bags that were used a few years ago during kindergarten registration. “Children will have a few books they can read over break; rhyming games; sight word activities and games; word wall practice; and more,” said Kathie Mason, a kindergarten teacher at Douma who helped coordinate the effort. “This will certainly help the children practice skills that they have been working on at school, as well as play games and read with family members. Students will feel good about the skills they can show their parents.”
Mason also noted that the bags will also help parents understand the skills their children are learning on a daily basis. “I hope they use the activities over the holiday break and beyond,” Mason said.
