Project A.C.T.I.O.N. (After School Care in our Neighborhood) After School Programs, Riverbank Unified School District, and other partners banned together during the month of March to promote reading across Riverbank in celebration of the National Read Across America event.

The month of March kicked off with celebrations throughout the community in honor of Dr. Seuss with a birthday celebration on March 2.

Each school celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday as well as reading with a number of events including Riverbank Language Academy hosting a book fair, California Avenue Elementary and Mesa Verde each holding a read-a thon for the whole family, and Cardozo Middle School having a treasure hunt in the City of Riverbank.

The elementary students also participated in a reading challenge called “Books in a Jar” throughout the month, entering a book slip into a jar every time they read a book. The school whose students read the most books will receive an ice cream party.

California Avenue Elementary won the party last year with a total of 20,028 books read.

The articles in a jar challenge was another effort, this one for the sixth, seventh and eighth graders from Cardozo and RLA to see who could read the most articles within the month.

The Riverbank Rotary Club donated backpacks to be given to students in a drawing every Friday.

The Read Across Riverbank event concluded at the end of March with a celebration in the cafeteria at Cardozo Middle School on Santa Fe Street. There were several literacy activities for families to enjoy. There was one work station where they had information on all the states in the United States called the ABC’s of the United States. Another work station had recycled items to use to make different creations called Recycle Reuse Reduce.

Guests enjoyed free popcorn and watched the youngsters participate in a spelling game where they had to bounce a ball to a white board and enter the letter of the word, then bounce the ball back and the next person would continue until the word was spelled completely. The winning team would then receive a prize.

Young and old alike enjoyed the station where they could make their own book that had colorful paper and markers to choose from.

Riverbank Librarian Vicky Holt Angulo had a table set up with a container of yarn to make crafts out of. There was also a table that had several books on it that were free to the families that participated in the event.

Read Across Riverbank and all the literacy activities are designed to encourage and promote reading.