Video: Mooreville Students Find Storytelling Helps with Reading

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MOOREVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — A Lee County elementary school is going out of its way to make learning to read fun.

It was Christmas Family Reading Night at Mooreville Elementary school as parents and pupils listened to a story about Christmas. Brenda Pritchett is a professional story teller who visits various schools to read to children, with the goal of getting them excited about picking up a book and reading it themselves.

“They see Ms Pritchett read with the inflection and with the enthusiasm that she does and it shows them what a great reader sounds like,” said academic coach Jodi Boyd. “And the parents see that and they see that it’s so much more than just reading the words on the page.”

Brenda Pritchett said, “I wanted to share with parents some of the techniques that children can use strategies that will help them be good readers and be successful. One of things I can do is stop at the end of a page and read back and think about what they’ve been reading.”

And the parents were impressed with Pritchett’s techniques for motivating the children.

Parent Karen Skou said, “I thought she was fantastic. I think that her energy really engages the kids. And they had a great time.”

Another parent, Shawna Bostic said, “I think this is incredible. It’s an incredible opportunity for both our parents and our students to experience good story telling and good read aloud. It’s a great skill that parents can pick up on how to read to their children and how to read with their children.”

And after the reading session the parents and their children took part in make and take in which they produced items to take home that will help enhance their reading skills.

Bostic continued, “The make and take is an incredible opportunity for parents to see just how they can take household items to help their children at home.”

Pritchett explained, “And they’re all things that you probably have at your home. We talked about a pizza box using a wipe off board that research says learning goes up sixteen percent when they use this writing on it and wiping it off and starting again.”

“Anything interactive they love and I think that it helps them remember the cues that she gave them as far as improving their level of comprehension,” said Skou.

Boyd was very pleased with how Christmas Family Reading night went.

She said, “Any time you can give children a print rich or a reading rich environment, that benefits them greatly.”