One District, One Book Reading Together Continues in 2022 at PCPS

Ponca City Public Schools-

Elementary students in the Ponca City Public School District can’t get enough of reading together. The District has participated in thirteen One District, One Book selections in recent years and plan to begin book number fourteen on January 25th.

Teri Vogele, Elementary Curriculum Director, said, “Participating in ODOB has provided our schools and community with opportunities to reap the benefits of reading together. Through ODOB conversations about characters and themes, vocabulary, and comprehension improve. Parental involvement is a huge part of the success of this initiative and the district hopes that parents continue to support this very important reading initiative.” This will be the second year the district has expanded the ODOB  initiative to include the students, parents, teachers, and staff members of East and West Middle Schools. The first book read by the Middle School students was the book titled: Restart. This year they will be reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba.

During our ODOB events at each elementary site, educators work hard to engage parents and students from the beginning by decorating the building, organizing assemblies, implementing art projects, assigning creative writing assignments, and providing text-dependent questioning to guarantee the entire district is buzzing with conversations about what the students have read with family members the night before. We know the middle school students and faculty will be just as excited about coming together to read the same book at the same time.

Each family at every elementary and middle school in the PCPS district will receive a copy of the latest ODOB title, along with a daily reading schedule. A schedule of daily reading assignments can also be found on the District’s website for parents and community members to refer to while reading the selected books.

All elementary sites will be reading the book entitled The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith the same author as Babe the Gallant Pig. The Water Horse is a mystical tale set in Scotland 1930s.  King-Smith draws readers in right from the start.  After a powerful storm, Kirstie and her little brother, Angus, find a mysterious egg on the beach. They bring it home, secretly put it in the bathtub…and the story develops and grows from there. East and West Middle Schools will be reading the book entitled The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba. This is a true story of a young boy growing up in the poor agricultural country of Malawi during the famine of 2004. Conditions are bleak. But William is determined and curious. He has seen a picture of a windmill in an old science textbook. Convinced this can solve his family’s problems, he sets his mind to understanding the science behind energy production and proceeds to make his dream a reality. This book is all about resiliency and determination. All who read this title will be inspired by the tenacity of the main character in the book.

The District hopes family and community members will join us in reading these two titles together, both of which have life lessons embedded within the pages.

The District encourages parents and community members to make a commitment to read the assigned chapters each night along with the students of The Ponca City Public School District because: When everyone reads the same book at the same time there is a lot to talk about!