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Marietta students had the chance to learn about dinosaurs to encourage literacy on Friday.
Phillips Elementary School, part of Marietta City Schools, held a literacy day event called Roar Into Reading that was dinosaur themed.
Phillips Elementary Title I teacher Robin Haught said the school holds an annual literacy day. Haught said the school has had a literacy day for years and this is the first year they have held the event during the school day.
"It's an opportunity to get parents involved in their kids' education," Haught said about the event.
According to Huaght, as part of the event the school bought every student in the school a dinosaur themed book that was appropriate for their reading ability. Children also received dinosaur stickers and ate dinosaur cookies.
The school will be holding a raffle for students on Monday. The prizes will include dinosaur books, dinosaur puzzles, and handmade dinosaur stuffed animals.
Phillips Elementary nurse Tonja Cullen handmade the stuffed animals, 36 in all.
Teachers also read dinosaur books to students. Children played dinosaur themed games that used skills related to "tricky words", which are site words, made dino hats, and looked at dinosaur fossils.
The main event was a performance by Dino-ROAR! According to its website, Dino-ROAR is a group that performs dinosaur educational entertainment at schools, fairs, festivals, birthday parties and more.
Phillips Elementary Principal Scott Kratche said he was excited about the show.
"We're excited to see how many parents we get (to attend)," Kratche said.
One of the parents who attended the show was Bryce Clary. He said he brought his 3-year-old son Grayson to the show because his daughter is a kindergartner at the school and Grayson likes dinosaurs.
When asked what his favorite dinosaur is, Grayson Clary said, "T-rex!"
Dino-ROAR! Employees James Tetley and Jacob Whitson gave a performance that blended comedy with dinosaur facts, like the tyrannosaurus rex grew to 20 feet tall in adulthood and the pachycephalosaurus was an herbivore that used its domed skull to headbutt other dinosaurs to defend itself.
During the show Tetley and Whitson introduced students to two baby dinosaurs, Brutus the brachiosaurus and Pachy the pachycephalosaurus. Students got to go up and interact with the dinosaurs, including petting both of them and feeding Brutus lettuce.
The showstopper at the end of the performance was Fern the juvenile tyrannosaurus rex. Whitson explained that Fern was not as young as the other dinosaurs that the students had been introduced to and was more like a teenager.
During her appearance Fern ran at the audience, with students shrieking in excitement at her antics. Students were able to pet Fern at the end of the performance too.
To learn more about Dino-ROAR! visit https://www.dinoroarohio.com