SeDoMoCha families all have a Golden Ticket

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Families of SeDoMoCha School students, now including those at the middle school in addition to the elementary school, will have the opportunity to participate in a shared reading experience through the fifth annual One Book, One School program. For the next few weeks the pupils and family members will read and discuss Roald Dahl’s novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and take part in activities during the school day to lead up to a family meal on Thursday, Feb. 12 and then an ending celebration on the morning of Friday, Feb. 13.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    HEADING INSIDE THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY — Willy Wonka, left portrayed by grade 7 social studies teacher Derek Carroll, leads the five holders of the Golden Tickets inside his factory during a skit as part of the One Book, One School shared reading program kickoff on the evening of Jan. 7. Joining Wonka are, from left, Augustus Gloop (portrayed by eighth-grader Joshua Whittemore), Mike Teavee (seventh-grader Benjamin Atwater), Veruca Salt (eighth-grader Hannah Poland), Violet Beauregarde (seventh-grader Victoria Scuderi) and Charlie Bucket (eighth-grader Gavyn Moreshead). The scene also included seventh-grader Jacob Ireland as an Oompa-Loompa.

    Students and families took their first bite into the “Charlie and Chocolate Factory” One Book, One School program with a kickoff on the evening of Jan. 7. Those who will be reading the book together joined administrators and staff to fill the multipurpose room to pick up their copies of the novel. Each family will be able to keep a book, which is being provided by the school.
    Kickoff attendees were also given a reading schedule and parent guide with questions to accompany each of the 30 chapters. The shared reading experience is intended to help students improve listening comprehension, increase vocabulary, understand concepts, lengthen attention spans and create a positive attitude toward books.
    “Welcome to One Book, One School, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,’” literacy teacher Carolyn Clark said to all in attendance. “We are super excited about this text and it’s going to be the first year we are going to do K-8.” She then thanked the administrators, staff and faculty who have helped, the SeDoMoCha School Organization for providing the dinner food and all the families for their assistance in One Book, One School.
    “The program is designed to create a shared reading experience within a school community,” Clark said. She said families will read “Charlie and Chocolate Factory” over the ensuing four weeks and “every morning (Principal Julie Kimball) asks a question during announcements that goes with the chapter the night before.”
    Completed reading logs will be entered into a prize drawing on Feb. 13. Clark said these logs provide data on One Book, One School. “It helps us to know what direction to head in next,” she said.
    Clark said families can choose to read however they see fit, saying parents of kindergarteners would likely need to read to their children while some eighth-graders may choose to go through “Charlie and Chocolate Factory” on their own.
    “This year because it’s K-8 our whole school is going to do activities, crafts and games during the day,” Clark said about the Feb. 13 festivities. “It’s going to be an awesome, awesome day.”
    The annual kickoff once again featured Rachel Page, who retired several years ago after three and a half decades of teaching, as the guest reader. Page invited all the children to come forward and sit around her rocking chair as she read the first chapter aloud.
    Page said after she finished grade 7 social studies teacher Derek Carroll and several middle school students would be performing a skit “as characters you are going to meet later in the book.” Page said some of the children may already know these characters, who all earned a trip inside Willy Wonka’s factory after finding Golden Tickets in their Wonka Bars
    After Page finished, Carroll, portraying Wonka, came into the multipurpose room, guiding the five ticket finders inside the factory gates as he had each one introduce themselves. Eighth-grader Joshua Whittemore portrayed Augustus Gloop with some padding underneath his shirt to replicate the portly boy, classmate Hannah Poland had the role of Veruca Salt, seventh-grader Victoria Scuderi played Violet Beauregarde, seventh-grader Benjamin Atwater brought Mike Teavee to life and eighth-grader Gavyn Moreshead was title character Charlie Bucket. Seventh-grader Jacob Ireland joined the skit as an Oompa-Loompa, with Ireland walking on his knees to replicate the short stature of these factory workers.
    The first SeDoMoCha One Book, One School took place in 2011 as students and families read “A Castle in the Attic” by Elizabeth Winthrop and then enjoyed a medieval feast after they finished the novel. A year later “The Indian in the Cupboard” by Lynne Reid Banks was the program selection and the ending evening event featured a Western motif and activities. In 2013 One Book, One School featured E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web” and this novel led up to a night at the fair. A year ago the selection was “The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, with a trip to Emerald City concluding the program.