District Celebrates Read Across America

District Celebrates Read Across America

     MVSD’s amazing students and staff had a wonderful time celebrating Read Across America Week and Dr. Seuss’ birthday with fun activities focusing on the importance of literacy and the joy of reading.  

     Schools welcomed guest readers virtually into classrooms to share a story with the students, and The Cat in the Hat even made an appearance in a few Zoom classes. Fun themed days like pajama day, crazy socks day, sports day, and more were scheduled throughout the week as well as drive-thru book distributions and virtual family literacy events.

     MVSD teachers and staff did a fantastic job creating fun and interactive virtual events enabling students to celebrate the beloved week-long event focused on reading.  

     “As much as we would have loved to welcome our guest readers to our campuses like we’ve done for so many years, the virtual setting worked great and allowed our students to hear from wonderful guest readers from different states,” said Lillian Maldonado French, Superintendent.  “We greatly appreciate the many guest readers who shared their love of reading with our students, it truly makes a tremendous impact.”

     Sixth graders at Baker School were excited to welcome Sergeant First Class (SFC) David A. Marcelli, CCE, CEC, PCC, AAC US Army, who joined the class via Zoom from his home in Hawaii.  He read a chapter from the book “Ground Zero” a novel of 9/11 by Alan Gratz.  Marcelli, a professionally trained and award-winning chef, shared his experiences during his 20 years serving our country in the Army.  The students asked lots of questions and were captivated by his stories of his time stationed in Germany and serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as competing in the Culinary Olympics.  He also shared how he’s been working with his church, helping to feed the homeless and those who are food insecure during the pandemic.  Marcelli, a life-long learner who is set to begin Military Training and Leadership classes next week, encouraged the students to keep reading and continue to work hard in school. 

     Madrid Middle School celebrated its school of outstanding readers with a “Read Across Madrid” Book Giveaway.  Adhering to safety protocols, students were assigned specific times to visit the school and were able to choose up to 10 free books from a large variety of genres and titles.  Students also received Madrid Bulldog spirit gear including T-shirts, wrist bands and lanyards.    

     At Cogswell School students paid homage to the book A Bad Case of Stripes by wearing stripes to their virtual classrooms, and at Monte Vista School families dressed in Dr. Seuss gear for the drive-thru book distribution.  Maxson School and Kranz Intermediate also hosted book distribution events for students.

      Payne School had a busy week of reading with Principal, Hugo Moreno reading the school a Dr. Seuss book each day.  Students also had fun making some Dr. Seuss favorites like Green Eggs and Ham and Oobleck during class, and enjoyed guest readers like El Monte’s Police Chief, David Reynoso.

       Third graders at Miramonte welcomed three former Miramonte and Kranz students as guest readers.  The three successful MVSD alums, with careers in education and communications, encouraged the students to enjoy their years in school. 

      “Our teachers and support personnel do an excellent job with our Read Across America events and instilling a love of reading in our students each day,” said Maldonado French.

     As the foundation of every child’s education, literacy opens doorways to opportunity and MVSD is happy to participate in Read Across America each year, partnering educators, parents, librarians, mentors and community members to read with students and give them a lifelong gift of learning.  


  • Mountain View Preschool Programs
  • Magnolia Learning Center