Sleeping bags, blankets, stuffed animals and tents were unlikely classroom props as students and staff at Buxton Center Elementary School on Friday focused on reading.

It was all part of “Camp Read A Lot,” a day culminating a week filled with reading activities at the school that found ways to make reading fun for students.

“They were so on,” Diane Nadeau, the school’s principal, said Friday. “The teachers were really so into it.”

Literacy education is unique at the school, which has an enrollment of more than 600 students in grades kindergarten to fifth grade and with a few students learning the English language. The school finds innovative ways to encourage reading.

Mary Lou Shuster, the school’s literary specialist, introduces students to books that interest them. Last week, Shuster instituted an atmosphere that inspired reading.

On Friday’s camp day, even the youngest students had little difficulty staying attentive. Readers in classrooms, decorated with the camp theme, included teachers; Charles Lamonte, assistant superintendent at School Administrative District 6; guest Maine author Kevin Paul Ouellette; and Nadeau.

A fourth-grade classroom had stuffed animals and blankets spread on the floor. Some classrooms featured big screens displaying videos of blazing logs in a campfire.

Teacher Dominque Johnson’s second-grade classroom even had sound effects of a crackling campfire in addition to treats – popcorn, fruit and a cooler for drinks.

“They love it,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the kids had to set up their own campsite and the kids improvised by stretching sheets over tables and chairs to simulate tents.

“They need to know reading is not some boring activity that schools make them do,” Johnson said.

The exercise taught more than just reading to students.

“They had to problem solve,” said Shuster, who has spent her entire 32-year educational career serving SAD 6.

Shuster pumped enthusiasm into last week’s program.

Ouellete, author of “A Quarter, an Elf and Some Glue,” read his newly published book to the kindergarten students of teachers Kelsey Hicks and Erica Simpson. Ouellette, a former Disneyworld puppeteer and a disc jockey, interacted with the students while reading his illustrated book to them.

Before the reading, Ouellette, of Portland, who had recently returned from a similar reading at a Milwaukee, Wis., school, said his book is about an elf who glues a quarter to the ground to trick people.

“It’s an anti-bullying book,” Ouellette said.

Wrapped in blankets, kids sitting on a classroom floor listened to Ouellette just as if they were in camp. All eyes were glued on Ouellette.

Lamonte read the children’s book “Are You My Mother?” to Anne Marie Haley’s first-grade class. Like in other classrooms, students gathered attentively around as if they were at camp.

Last week’s reading programs at the school began on March 2, the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, the famed children’s author of “Cat in the Hat.” As part of the week’s reading programs, Bonny Eagle High School students presented one-act plays for the elementary students.

The elementary school’s schedule for the week was packed with reading programs and each student received a free book in connection with “Read Across America.”

On March 4, the school observed “World Read Aloud Day,” and on March 5 teachers presented a poem to each student.

During the week, students carried books with them and, when signaled from the school’s office, they were required to read for 15 minutes. Also, each class had a guest reader or a Skype visit. Classroom doors were decked out with literary themes.

The secret to encourage reading, Shuster said, is finding the right book for each student.

“I engage kids who don’t like to read,” Shuster said.

Shuster, a former kindergarten teacher, organized the special events last week and praised school administrators, staff and teachers who carried out the special events.

Nadeau said the literary effort represented the “all- hands-on-deck approach” by the teachers.

“We have incredible teamwork here,” Shuster said.

Kindergarten student Ethan Allen at Buxton Center Elementary School reads on Friday with Diane Nadeau, principal, during the school’s Camp Read A Lot program. Staff photo by Robert Lowell

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