The Goldwood Community Is on the Same Page
Hear that roar? That’s Ralph’s motorcycle, roaring into Goldwood Primary School for the first two weeks of April. On March 29, every student and every staff member at the school was given a copy of The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary.
At an all-school assembly on the 29th, students watched a video of Ralph tooling around Rocky River. Then Ralph himself rolled into the kick-off of the assembly of this One Book, One Community program, to the screams and cheers of the excited kids.
The One Book, One Community Program is an immersive experience for the kids, because the teachers and staff will read the book, too, creating an instant connection and instant conversation topic between any two people in the school. “The great thing about our entire staff and students reading the book together is that everyone can discuss the book in their classrooms, the bus line, special subject classes, the lunchroom and hallways,” says Anne Davis, who wrote grants for the project with teachers Janine Walsh and Kristen Hargett.
Not only will everyone inside Goldwood be participating in the excitement of The Mouse and the Motorcycle, but many local businesses will, too. “A parent delivered pictures of Ralph to local businesses and public buildings last week,” Mrs. Davis explains. “Ones that agreed to do it have all of the supplies they need to participate. There will be a poster on the windows of participating businesses and buildings that identifies that Ralph is hiding in there.” Kids can go into the business, find Ralph, and let someone working there know that they’ve found him. The student will them be given an entry into a raffle at Goldwood to win prizes. In addition, students will have trivia questions to answer with their families at home and gain entry to the raffle.
The books are being provided free of charge to the students thanks to grants from the Rocky River Education Foundation and the Goldwood PTA.
View the video!