Shamrock Springs Elementary is GOING PLACES
The following blog post was written by Tyler Stott, an intern at FableVision Learning.
What started as a “crazy idea” to immerse students in the pages of a book, evolved into an interactive experience for the entire Shamrock Springs Elementary community.
Instructional Coach Jodi Dubovich (left) and Media Specialist Lori Tebbe (right)
Planning for the annual Shamrock Reads celebration, Lori Tebbe, the media specialist at the school in Westfield, Indiana and Jodi Dubovich, an instructional coach, selected a book that truly encompassed the 4Cs.
“We chose ‘Going Places’ by Peter and Paul Reynolds (this year) because this book promotes critical thinking, communication skills, collaboration, and creativity,” Lori explained. Then, using a bit of creativity and communication - the two connected the dots with FableVision to get permission to use the pages from the book and everything changed from that moment.
“The biggest aha moment for us was realizing that big things are possible and that came true when within a day we got a response from Jane Reynolds,” Lori and Jodi shared. “We had this crazy idea to immerse the students in this book walk but never thought we would hear back from FableVision let alone get permission to use their book in this way. Our aha moment was realizing that there are people out there who want to support teachers and students in big ways… The world is more connected than we ever imagined.”
The Shamrock Reads program included a storywalk, skits featuring Maya and Raphael, a community night, and a video message from Peter H, Reynolds.
“Paul and I were so excited when we heard that Shamrock Springs Elementary was not just reading our book, the whole school, but activating the book, bringing it to life in such creative ways. The message in this book is all about thinking outside of the box and collaborating with each other to solve problems and make this world a better place,” Peter shared in his video message.
We connected with Lori and Joidi to learn more about the reading program and their school.
Can you share a bit about your school, how are you so fortunate to work in such a creative space?
“We are fortunate to live in a community where education is highly valued and supported by the community and parents. When teachers have ideas and ways to enrich the learning experience for their students; administration, PTOs and other community sponsors always step up and offer support whether it is financial or materials for whatever we need. Shamrock Reads is a yearly program but due to Covid protocols we had to scale it back significantly. With restrictions easing up, we wanted to generate an excitement around reading and an event that would bring the whole school together. We went to the PTO and they agreed to fund our idea to make Shamrock Reads bigger and better this year. “
Can you share a bit about the skit you wrote and how the characters interacted with the characters in other books?
“Our kickoff for this year’s Shamrock Reads was an all school assembly. ‘Going Places’ was used as our theme this year to promote the 4Cs. During the skit, the main characters, Maya and Raphael, traveled around the gym and met characters from favorite picture books. The skit started off with them wanting to use their imagination and creativity on a day where they found there wasn’t much to do. They met characters that needed encouragement, a boost of confidence, problem solving and just some fun and wacky characters as well. At the end of the skit, the audience realizes they really didn’t go to all these places and meet all these characters, they had spent the day reading together and they were able to go to all these places by reading and using their vivid imaginations.”
Are you a Maya or a Raphael?
“We both have traits of each of these characters. We are very much like Maya in the beginning. We like to dream big and think of all these crazy possibilities for our students. The bigger the better. However, when a decision needs to be made, we switch to be more like Raphael and are very task oriented. So, we like to think we are a great combination of both. Also, we have a handful of Raphaels that we work with that trust our vision and help us make our crazy fun ideas a reality. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to do this.”
What was the response from the students/community around this program?
“We transformed the hallway over one weekend. When the students and staff arrived that Monday it was so gratifying to see their reactions and amazement when walking through the experience. It made all the hard work and time worth it. We also had a community/parent night for families to experience the book. Everyone was blown away and really well attended. The response from the school and community has been amazing. Students kept wanting to take their parents through and read the book multiple times.”
What's next?
“Sleep! It inspired us to approach this program differently in the future and spread events like this throughout the year to promote creativity, imagination and reading. It brought such a jolt of energy throughout the building that we want to spread the energy and excitement throughout the year, not just for a few weeks in March. We already are in Maya mode thinking of ideas for Dot Day next year.”