Literary characters go on parade at Heritage

Pledging to “Get Lost in Books, Not Drugs,” students at Heritage Elementary School went on parade as their favorite characters from books and movies.

Connor Duckett as "Where’s Waldo" (Photo courtesy of Demetria Freeman)

“The parade helped to promote school-wide reading and a genuine love for various books and genres,” Heritage reading coach Demetria Freeman said. “Students look forward to the book character parade each year. The parade continues to get bigger and better.”

This special activity applied the students’ knowledge of books in an expressive way, compared to a book report that they would recite to their classmates. “Students celebrated literacy,” Freeman said. “They had a chance to dress as their favorite book character and learn more about that character.”

Second-grader Brody Wilhelm portrayed Davy Crockett and brought music for singing songs from the Disney movie. “Kelley Ann Parris in fifth grade was dressed as Katniss Everdean from ‘The Hunger Games,'” Freeman said. “Kelly Ann looked awesome.”

Third-grader Landon Taylor decided to represent Teen Gohan from the book, “Dragon Ball Z.” Sam Townsend in first grade dressed as a ninja. Camille in Jeaneen Foote’s first-grade class dressed as Skippyjon Jones from the book series.

In Dr. Fitzgerald McQueen’s class, third-grader Emma portrayed Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz.” Emma chose Dorothy because she “really enjoyed the book as well as the movie. I learned that Dorothy was very helpful to her friends.”

“I chose to be Harry Potter because I liked the way he supported his friends and tried to help others,” Travis said, also a student in McQueen’s class. “I learned that Harry Potter was very brave and helpful.”

All of Heritage’s kindergarten teachers dressed as the book, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” Third-grade teachers enacted various characters from the Junie B. Jones book collection.

“Fifth-grade teachers Kelly Woosley and Lindsay Shelton dressed up as characters from the book, ‘Star Girl,'” Freeman said. “Michael Kelley was a ‘wild thing’ from ‘Where the Wild Things Are.'”

Second-graders Allanah Barley, Emma Torongeau, Tramani Osley and Aisha Bojang as Raggedy Anns (Photo courtesy of Demetria Freeman)