PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – An interactive reading activity in Plattsburgh is connecting kids and the community.
More than a dozen StoryWalk Pedestals line the Melissa Penfield Park in the Lake City, encouraging kids to learn as they walk.
Plattsburgh students are celebrating the new StoryWalk. It includes 18 pedestals that share a story about how schools are more than just buildings.
Erin McGill, a media specialist with the Plattsburgh City School District, says the idea came to her during the pandemic.
“We asked a realtor, a local realtor to let us borrow some signs and we went out and hammered them in and taped, package taped them to the signs,” McGill said.
Instead of homemade signs– which she says were a hit with the community– these are permanent with funding from the city and school district.
“Along with this story, there is movement, too. So, it will have a page from the book but it will also have the kids stop and think and talk about a part of the book,” McGill said.
Educational tools she says are already being used by some classrooms.
“There was a second-grade class exploring it before everyone got here and it was about 20 to 25 minutes of the kids going around and you could see them doing jumping jacks and things. So, it was like very heartwarming for me,” McGill said.
Plattsburgh City School District Superintendent Jay Lebrun says he believes the signs will build a sense of community while getting kids outside.
“We have rolled all into one accomplishment literacy, recreation, students outdoors, inter-municipal partnership, and in that regard, I just think this is a tremendous thing,” Lebrun said.
It’s a project Mayor Chris Rosenquest would like to see replicated.
“We’ve got 22 parks and greenspaces in the city of Plattsburgh. You know, there is nothing to say we can’t put one in each park,” said Rosenquest, D-Plattsburgh.
McGill says she plans to have four stories rotated on the signs throughout the year.