Such a unique way to make reading even more of an adventure.

The kindergarten team at Elsmere Elementary worked with the BC Transition Program to create a story path on the Elsmere school grounds. 

Katie Suhr, a Kindergarten Teacher at Elsmere Elementary, said the hope for the Elsmere Pride Story Path is to create an interactive activity that helps support reading and wellness. 

“Our goal for this project is to promote literacy, while spending time outdoors with family and friends,” Suhr said. “We are excited to share this project with the broader BC community.

The story path is funded by a grant through the Community Foundation for the Capital Region.

 

On Friday, students in the BC Transition Program visited Elsmere and guided the kindergarten classes through the story path, reading them the pages posted up on signs. Many of the pages included a personal touch from students in the Transition Program. The team developed embellishments to add to the story page signs.

“We worked in teams together to decide what the themes were on each page and what symbols we could add to show that,” said Jen Mills, a BC Special Education Teacher.

There was even more of a personal connection for Lauren Heineman, a BC Transition Program student. Heineman attended Elsmere Elementary School.

“It was really fun to see someone that I know and it’s really cool to meet everyone in groups,” Heineman said. “We made it all happen as a team.”

The first book presented is “Hair Love” by Matthew A. Cherry.

The story path is available for anyone to walk through. Suhr said they will be changing the books used for the Story Path seasonally. 

Everyone who travels through gets to leave their mark on the path. At the beginning of the story, everyone can take a rock. At the end of the path, there’s a bucket to collect the rocks, keeping track of how many people visit.