The Outdoor Classroom Team at Hawley Elementary School is excited to see so many students enjoy the school’s brand new story walk over the past several weeks. The story walk consists of pages of children’s picture books blown up to fit onto large poster boards set into the grass outside at the side of the school.

Every time students walk by that area outside their school, they can look at and read the pages together. As of right now, there are two books featured on the story walk: Ant Can’t by Maryann Dobeck and Friends from the Orson and Taco series by Charlot Wilson. The first book is about an ant who talks to several different animals and learns that they can do many things he can’t. However, he goes on to learn what makes him unique and that he can do things that other animals can’t, such as crawl on the wall like a spider. The second book is about Orson, a big dog who has big things, and Taco, a little dog who has little things, that bond over their favorite thing of all: their friendship.

After the end of each book, the story walk has a separate page with several questions about the book for children to think about and answer.

According to Hawley Reading Specialist Elisabeth Douglass, the Outdoor Classroom Team at school had been very busy and worked hard in order make the story walk as best as it could be. The goal, she added, is to get students engaged and interested in reading.

“We are so excited about this and know that our students will enjoy the experience and benefit from their literacy adventure and many more to come,” Douglass beamed.

The story walk was first set up outside on Monday, October 21. However, it wasn’t until Hawley Principal Chris Moretti invited teachers to bring their students outside on Tuesday, October 22, that students got their first look at the new school project. The bright, sunny weather made for the perfect day for students to enjoy the story walk the first time.

Even after the project was first set up, students are still having fun with the story walk. One of the many groups that has gone out to enjoy the new project is Hawley first grade teacher Kathy Leja’s class. They all went outside on Monday, October 28 to take turns reading out loud to everyone. The students from her class smiled brightly and crunched the leaves on the ground as they ran from poster board to poster board, excited to read and see the next page of the story.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.