LEAPS News - Elementary schools launch One District One Book

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The excitement was contagious throughout all four elementary schools in the Avon Lake City Schools (Eastview, Erieview, Redwood and Westview) as clues were given leading up to the big reveal for the annual One District One Book initiative. This week friendly dragons were spotted in the school buildings (and on the buildings) as students and staff learned the book they would be reading together is Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows, by Asia Citro. 

 

Every elementary student and elementary teacher in the district received their own copy of the book that they can read together in order to promote literacy at home and school. Every night families will read the chapter(s) designated for that night and complete the trivia question along with the reading. They will bring the trivia answer back to school the following day to be entered into a drawing for prizes. In addition, the schools have partnered with 10 community businesses to participate in a scavenger hunt. Families will visit the businesses and look for Marshmallow, the Dragon. Students will get a mark on their passport at each location once they’ve found the dragon. When their passport is complete, they will return it to school to be entered in a drawing for prizes. 

 

Thank you to the local businesses listed below for their generous participation in the scavenger hunt. 

 

  • EarthWise Pet

  • Salad Kraze

  • Marco's Pizza

  • Emilie’s Coffee House

  • Avon Lake Public Library

  • Old School Pizza & Wings

  • Sherwin Williams

  • Ace Hardware

  • Dirte Pi

  • Dairy Queen

     

In the book Zoey has a cat named Sassafras that helps her take care of the dragon in the story. One of the goals in the One District One Book initiative is to try to incorporate a sense of community by helping a local organization that correlates to someone or something in the book. This year the schools are collecting items for Love-a-Stray, cat division, in honor of all the help Sassafras provides. For more information regarding the non-profit, go to https://www.loveastraydog.com/

 

We are very fortunate in our district to have had all of the books fully funded through the Avon Lake City Schools Foundation. Without their support we would not have been able to provide this fun and engaging opportunity to our students. In addition, every building had a committee of teachers and principals put together activities leading up to the big book reveal from having dragons wander around the buildings, art projects, and video clues.