The Tribune

A SENATOR was a guest speaker as Albury Sayle Primary School celebrated Literacy Month at an event recently.

Senator Maxine Seymour attended the launch assembly, with the event themed “Oh, the Places We’ll Go” inspired by author Dr Seuss - and she urged students to travel the world through books and their imaginations.

She said: “There is a book about everything you can think of; countless books are waiting to be read and written,” as she encouraged children to become authors.

She said: “The alphabet has 26 letters; we reorder them to create words; words come together to make sentences; sentences string together to form paragraphs; paragraphs combine to create amazing stories.”

In an impromptu collaboration with three student volunteers, Seymour and the children told the story of riding on a flying flamingo throughout the archipelago to a water park to play for the day, before returning to school.

At the end of the presentation, Seymour had the school body repeat a Reader’s Oath – pledging to feed their brains daily through reading.

The senator hosts a virtual storytime twice monthly, on the first and third Wednesday, during which she reads to participants and quizzes them to build their comprehension skills.

She also reads to children in classroom settings, at various schools, and is open to expanding her reach.

The Literacy Month Assembly was held on February 7 under the pavilion at the school on Nassau Street.

Third graders Kamani Rolle and Zariyah Russell moderated. All grade levels participated - reading poems, singing, acting in a skit and dancing.

Shirlean Wallace heads the school as principal while teacher, Alexis Mortimer, serves as the literacy coordinator.