Students gathered in the library at A.I. Boreman Elementary School to take art in annual ‘book week’ activities. This year’s theme is “The Rainforest.”

Book Week at A.I.. Boreman Elementary is always a very wonderful event. This year is no exception. The Book Week theme, “The Rainforest,” was kicked off with a visit from the Good Zoo, which is located at Oglebay Park in Wheeling.

On Monday the Zoo presented a 45 minute show to each grade level featuring some of the smaller rainforest animals. The students will also have several opportunities during the next two weeks to visit “The Rainforest,” which staff at A.I. Boremen created in the library.

Boreman Elementary is blessed with creative teachers, but the creativity does not stop there. Ideas on how to create this year’s theme came from teachers throughout the county. The trees in the library were fashioned for a previous book week at Sistersville Elementary. Joyce Hagerty, TCMS art teacher, set up the drawing station and created the parrots used to track the number of books read. Several students from TCHS dropped by to help with decorating. Watching the process of book week coming together was just as amazing as the end product.

In continuing with the “Rainforest” theme, there are several stations in the library that are both educational and fun. The listening/reading station provides information on the rainforest and tells the story of one animal’s adventure through the canopy to find a family to live with. “Feed the Animal Bean Bag Toss” and “Ring the Snake” develop hand-eye coordination and provides facts about the animals. “Draw a Rainforest Animal” develops fine motor skills. Problem solving is targeted using a giant floor puzzle that students work together to assemble. Math skills are the focus of an “Estimation Jar” full of crackers. Students were given instruction in measuring a same-size pack of crackers in order to better estimate their answers.

The students are receiving information about the rainforest in multiple ways throughout the two-week event. There are books, videos and internet activities available to all teachers for classroom instruction. The lunch menu was revised to identify different animals in the rainforest. Each morning a trivia fact relating to the topic is read during the announcements period. Fourth and fifth graders are encouraged to pay close attention to these facts as they will have a “fun” test at the end of the book week. Top scoring students from each class will win a prize.

Finally, the event is rounded out with a school-wide project. Staff at Boreman Elementary created an eighteen-foot long mural of rainforest animals, trees and plants, which will be colored in part by each student and displayed at the annual art show in March. An enormous thank you goes out to all who participated in some way to make this year’s event so wonderfully successful for the students.