Middle Gate Loves to Read Week was kicked off on Monday, April 4, by two assemblies in the Middle Gate Elementary School gymnasium. The theme for this year's Middle Gate Loves To Read was nonfiction. A range of activities and celebrations between Monday, April 4, and Friday, April 8, celebrated reading.

With author Melissa Stewart set to visit the school next month, Middle Gate reading specialist Lina Silveira explained some of the author's "many nonfiction books" were read by students throughout the week.

Third and fourth grade students read No Monkeys, No Chocolate, and kindergarten through second grade students read Beneath the Sun and Under the Snow. Other books by Ms Stewart were also highlighted through different activities during the week.

At the first kick-off assembly of the morning, Liza Eleoff's fourth graders presented a skit that highlighted a number of the activities students would take part in throughout the week.

After the skit, student volunteers handed out copies of the school's new newspaper, The Middle Gate Bee, so each class would have copies to read. "Scavenger Hunt" questions were also handed out with the papers, so students could read the student-created stories and answer questions.

Ms Silveira said every morning throughout the week two trivia questions were read and two winners were announced by the end of the day. The winners were given a ticket pack to Edmond Town Hall's theater.

The hallways of the school were also decorated with trivia questions, according to Ms Silveira.

By Friday, students were wearing visors they created and decorated to celebrate why they love reading nonfiction, and classes took turns visiting a "Nonfiction Museum" in a room at the school.

The museum included five activity stations, through which students rotated in groups.

At one station, inspired by the book No Monkeys, No Chocolate, students were tasked with putting cards in order to properly describe the steps in making chocolate. At another station, inspired by the book Under The Snow, students had to put their hands inside a box covered in "snow" and read a clue to guess which stuffed animal they were feeling.

A video of a boy explaining the chocolate making process was also shown to each class.

"I think the kids are getting a kick out of bringing the stories to life," said Ms Silveira, while the Nonfiction Museum was underway.