Event concludes year’s guest reading program

ROME TOWNSHIP — More than 90 kindergarten students at Fairland East Elementary School celebrated on Monday, May 19, with special guests they have gotten to know over the past school year.

Residents of the Wyngate at RiversEdge were at the school, where a pizza party took place, wrapping up the first year of a reading program at the school.

Jennifer Graham, principal of the school, said the students and Wyngate residents have had regular visits in the classrooms, where they take turns reading to each other.

“And they have become like adopted grandparents,” she said of the guests.

Cheryl Fuller, resident director at the Wyngate, said about 10 residents of the senior living community have taken part in the program, rotating throughout the year.

The guests were also there for Read Across America Week in March, held in conjunction with the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss.

“It’s been a joy to connect the kids with the seniors in the community,” Graham said. And it’s exciting to see how excited the kids get for reading.”

Graham and Fuller agreed to bring the program back next year, and they said they hope to expand it to other grade levels. Fairland East serves kindergarten through second grade in the Proctorville/Rome Township area, where the Wyngate is located.

In addition to the pizza party, the students were given a gift from the Wyngate and provided with “I love reading” book bags for the summer.