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From March 5^th- March 9^th, the Kappa Eta chapter of Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), the International Honor Society in Education, traveled through the boroughs to promote and engage students in the wonders of literacy. As part of the KDP Literacy Alive service initiative, which invites members to create programs and events in their communities that bring empowering literacy skills to its participants, Kappa Eta engaged in Bridging The Boroughs Behind A Book!

Staten Island was the first borough visited on March 5^th, and came by way of the Silver Lake Head Start Pre-School. On Wednesday, March 7^th, the volunteers traveled to the Annie G. Newsome Pre-School in Manhattan. Wednesdayalso served as the date to visit Queens. Volunteers from Jumpstart visited Bright Beginnings Pre-School and Starlight Day Care Center. The program also reached out to P.S. 177, a special education school. On Thursday, March 8^th, P.S. 97 in Brooklyn was the destination to be. On Friday, March 9^th, Kappa Eta journeyed over to P.S. 280 in the Bronx. 

At the start of each session, the volunteers did a brief introduction with the children, asking them if they were familiar with Dr. Seuss before introducing the book GreenEggs & Ham. Some of the students’ responses included The Lorax & The Cat in the Hat, demonstrating they had some prior knowledge of the author about to be introduced. The visits also happened to coincide the week after Dr. Seuss’ Birthday, which provided a great tie-in to this event.

Each student received a name tag for them to fill out with the description “My name is ______- I-Am”, giving them a connection to the main character of Green Eggs & Ham, Sam-I-Am.   Then a read-aloud of the book was conducted and students were offered the chance to predict what they felt would happen next throughout different points of the story and ask questions. When asked if they would ever eat Green Eggs & Ham themselves, no matter what school it was in, they responded with a collective “No Way!” 

Following the read-aloud, students got to participate in hands-on activities such as writing about their favorite scene from the book as well as illustrating it. Another activity the students were able to engage in was coloring in their own plate of Green Eggs & Ham. The reflection piece at the conclusion of each session allowed the students to share their work with their classmates, and the many shades of their individual Green Eggs & Ham.

Volunteers presented each student with a Literacy Alive bag to take home with them, containing a KDP bookmark, a Green Eggs & Ham crossword puzzle, another small children’s book, and a book puppet. Each school that was visited received a donation of at least 150 books for their school library or classrooms. All together over 1,000 books were donated which we hope will spread literacy awareness to greater depths. 

Overall, the volunteers and students alike left with a sense of enjoyment; the volunteers for getting to spread literacy through Dr. Seuss and the children for getting to experience each of the activities and be able to express themselves creatively. We left with the lasting impression that we had reached out to each student we interacted with and they were all well receiving of us from the moment we entered the room to the time we had to part from them. As volunteers, we felt pride in knowing that not only had Kappa Eta traveled through the boroughs, but brought literacy alive in the process!