San Angelo READS!: A Community Celebration of Literacy and Joy

Wednesday, December 6, began with a proclamation from City of San Angelo Mayor Brenda Gunter, who officially proclaimed the day San Angelo READS! Day. 

San Angelo READS!, now in its fourth year, is the District’s community-wide literacy initiative founded to promote and encourage reading. 

This exciting initiative is driven by statistics that show how vitally important literacy is to providing all students with the opportunities to succeed at a young age.

“Reading is the gateway to countless worlds, a journey of the mind that expands our horizons and nurtures the seeds of knowledge, empathy, and imagination,” said Farrah Gomez, SAISD Deputy Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer. “San Angelo READS! Day is such a gift in our community as we are blessed with so many great community partners who pour into our students.” 

On READS! Day, approximately 60 volunteers and community members arrived at every San Angelo ISD elementary campus to participate in San Angelo READS! Day and read to students. 

Representatives from businesses and organizations throughout the community visited classrooms, read books, and participated in activities with students. 

Goodfellow Air Force Base also participated in READS! Day, both on and off the base. 

GAFB 17th Training Wing School Liaison Kristin Donaldson read to students at Glenmore Elementary, while representatives from STARBASE Goodfellow participated by reading to McGill Elementary 5th-grade students who were on base attending STARBASE.

Highlighting the day was a gift of a new book, “Looking Like Me” by Walter Dean Myers, to all SAISD third-grade students, provided by San Angelo READS! Day partner, H-E-B. 

Click here to watch the read-aloud on the San Angelo READS! YouTube channel. 

SAISD campuses spent the day celebrating literacy with special activities for students, including book-themed events; read-alouds; campus dress-up days; and special visits from the Chick-fil-A cow, Santa, H-E-Buddy and San Angelo Association of Realtors mascot, Ewe-Sella the Ewe.

Several hundred students and their family members joined the celebration of literacy as it continued the following day at the San Angelo READS! North Pole Pop-Up event. 

SAISD joined community partners, many of whom volunteered to read to SAISD students the day prior on San Angelo READS! Day, at the San Angelo Stadium, to put on the annual pop-up event. 

Almost 50 community partners and SAISD departments provided games, activities, mascots, giveaways, face painting, and more for the free, family-friendly, holiday-themed, festive event. 

During the event, thousands of books were given away, and special celebrities like the Chick-fil-A cow, Whataguy, H-E-Buddy, Ewe-Sella the Ewe, the Grinch, and even Santa could be seen taking pictures with both children and adults.  

The event was filled with various activities and fun for families. 

“The READS! North Pole Pop-Up event was an amazing success,” said Sun Cha, SAISD Director of Community Relations. “We had so many community partners and SAISD departments participate in the pop-up. There was such a wide range of fun activities. and we had a huge crowd come out. 

“It was wonderful seeing the families enjoy all the activities and spending time with each other,” she said. “We could not have had such a successful event with such a tremendous turnout with our wonderful community partners.” 

There are many ways you can support this important literacy initiative and inspire a love of reading in our San Angelo community: you can read at home with children, donate a book to a child in need, or support literacy programs in our community. 

You can also support this important literacy initiative by purchasing your very own San Angelo READS! t-shirt here. 

A portion of the proceeds will go to support San Angelo READS! 

All t-shirt orders must be placed by Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Stay tuned to the San Angelo ISD Facebook, Twitter, and website saisd.org/read.