CAPE STUDENTS RIDE 'CARPET' TO LITERACY

Clippard Elementary School students used their imaginations Monday to travel into stories that took them through forests, into castles and down country lanes.

Seated on carpet squares that represented magic carpets, kindergartners, first- and second-graders embarked upon an hourlong tour through fables, poems and fairy tales.

The event was led by a trio of actors visiting the school as part of the Carpet One Magic Carpet Time Tour.

At the end of the show, the carpet squares were donated to the school for use in classrooms and the library. Students also received storybooks and bookmarks donated by Holloway Carpet One, a Cape Girardeau company and sponsor of the event.

"I wish we could have taken it to all the elementary schools," said Lance Holloway of Holloway Carpet, who attended the program. This was the first year for the program, and Holloway wasn't sure how it would be accepted. He hopes that next year it can be expanded.

The national tour was created last summer with the help of reading specialists to emphasize the importance of literacy to early readers. More than 600 schools will participate in the program this year.

Teachers said it is important to emphasize literacy to children at an early age to help them become enthusiastic and lifelong readers. The program helps demonstrate the excitement books can contain.

"It reinforces what we've discussed in our classes as far as reading and the social skills we try to work on," said first-grade teacher Tammy Clover. "I thought it was wonderful."