On the Friday afternoon the day after Valentine’s Day, Eight Corners Elementary School filled with the sounds of excited children trying desperately to maintain focus in their classrooms. A sign at the front entrance of the school read, “Welcome Dads, please enter here!”

It was the first “Bring your Daddy to School Day” at the Scarborough school, and students had been waiting in anticipation for their dads to arrive all week.

Shortly after 10 a.m., fathers entered the school’s foyer and lined up outside.

“I’ve never seen so many men here at once,” exclaimed Principal Sandra Gorsuch-Plummer.

One among the group was school bus driver Ed Dionne, who chose to volunteer for the day as a “fill-in dad” for kids whose fathers couldn’t make it in to school.

“I like to call it ‘Daddy Du Jour’,” Dionne said with a smile.

Bring Your Daddy to School Day grew out of an effort to emphasize literacy and bring positive male role models into the classroom.

“We’re focusing on strategies to involve children and families more in reading, and to encourage male volunteers as role models,” said second-grade teacher Peggy Clements. “The idea began after School Board member John Cole started coming in to school to read to the kids.”

About one-third of the 250 students at Eight Corners use the extracurricular support that is available at the school, for literacy, math or special education. The school has four support classrooms, one designated just for literacy.

A potentially chaotic special day was organized into three separate “Dad sessions,” one for kindergartners, one for first-graders and one for second-graders. At 10:45, fathers of kindergartners walked down the hall to meet their children in their classrooms. There are 90 kindergarten students at Eight Corners who are divided into five classrooms.

Kindergartners with wide smiles across their faces got up from their seats to hug their dads, then sat down together to begin their activities. In Karen Littlefield’s class, dads and their sons and daughters sat down to read a book together.

Barrett Reed and her father, Chad Reed, read “How Do Dinosaurs Get Well So Soon?” Barrett and her dad read the words out loud together. “I love dinosaurs,” Barrett said.

Dads and their children then paired up to work on “What I Like,” a drawing activity that emphasized what kindergartners and their dads like to do together.

Hannah Williams and her dad, Ted Williams, drew a picture of Loon Pond in Sabattus. “That’s my aunt Kathy’s lake that we go visit together,” Hannah said.

Christopher Cimino and his dad, Chris, drew a picture of SpongeBob SquarePants, ice cream and a computer.

Logan Libby and his father, Andrew Libby, drew a picture of fishing at a pond. “That’s my grandfather’s pond that we go fishing at,” Logan said.

For many dads, this was their first chance to participate and observe first hand what a day at Eight Corners is like for their children.

“This is a great opportunity to see what he does during the day,” Andrew Libby said. “It’s my first time in the classroom.”

“It’s fantastic, and it’s great to read with the kids and see what they do,” said Nick McKelvy, father to kindergartner Brendan McKelvy. “I hope they keep it going as a tradition.”

After the “What I Like” activity, dads and their kindergarten students walked to the cafeteria hand-in-hand for lunch. Tables were decorated with red, white and pink tissue paper covered in red sparkle hearts for Valentine’s Day.

“It’s fun, I get to eat with my daddy, and daddy gets to buy lunch,” said Hannah Williams.

Also in the cafeteria was kindergarten teacher Lauri Dean’s dad, Bill Dean, who was both a dad and a volunteer. He sat with kindergartner Nick Muth. “I like having special guests at school,” Nick said.

At 11:20, the four second-grade classrooms filled with 73 second-grade students and their dads, who partnered to take on various activities involving reading.

Clements, the teacher, chose to open the special day in her class with a poem, because, she said, “poetry often gets underappreciated.”

Then the class moved on to a Venn diagram activity, where two overlapping circles are used to show shared points. Students teamed with their fathers to learn about reading and find out what reading interests they shared.

Clements wrote a series of 10 questions on the chalkboard that fathers and students had to answer together about reading. Some questions were: What do you read? Where and when do you read most often? What is your favorite reading topic? If you could write a book what would it be about?

Second-grader Hannah Griffin and her dad, Justin Griffin, agreed that they both liked funny books more than scary books. Hannah said if she could write a book it would be about her favorite subject, dogs.

“I have a Labradoodle named Gus. He has lots of energy and is very funny. He often begs for treats,” Hannah said.

When asked what her favorite part of having her dad at school was, Hannah’s dad replied with a laugh, “You get to see me where you’re not supposed to!”

“Yeah,” Hannah said. “I don’t get to see you a lot here.”

Clements’ class ended with an activity where second-graders chose a book they liked and read it together with their dads.

“The goal is for students to discover how important it is to read and how important reading is for their dads in their jobs,” she said.

Second-grader Kaden Lane and his father, Jeffrey Lane, chose a book about sharks to read. “Sharks are my favorite mammal,” Jeffrey said.

While second-graders were busy with their dads, at 11:45, first-grade classrooms filled with fathers, who sat in tiny chairs, while their kids perched on their laps.

First-grade teacher Nancy Golojuch chose to read a favorite book out loud to everyone, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day.” At every point the title phrase appeared in the book, Golojuch asked fathers and students to recite the words aloud, creating a harmony of sound.

“It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!” everyone shouted in unison.

After the reading, students in Golojuch’s classroom chose a book from their cubbies to read with their dads. Deauntay Weeks and his dad, Randald Johnson, chose a book titled, “I Hate Bullies.”

“The best part of today is that I get to hang out and enjoy the festivities with my son,” Randald said.

A potentially hectic day that had been anticipated for weeks turned into a smoothly executed special event, where both students and fathers were visibly pleased.

“Everyone is remarkably calm,” Golojuch said. “This is great!”

More than 200 dads showed up for the event.

“It’s turned out to be an extremely successful event, and I’m happy we had such a great turnout,” said Gorsuch-Plummer. “This is what is so great about Scarborough, the support we have from our community.”

Barrett and Chad Reed.JPG / Kindergartener Barrett Reed and her father Chad read “How Do Dinosaurs Get Well So Soon?” Kaden and Jeffrey Lane.JPG/ Second grader Kaden Lane and his father Jeffrey Lane read a story about sharks during Bring Your Daddy to School Day.Hannah and Ted Williams2.JPG/ Kindergartener Hannah Williams and her father Ted Williams read a story together during Bring Your Daddy to School Day. Mr. Dean and Nick Muth.JPG/ Kindergarten teacher Lauri Dean’s father, Bill Dean, sits with kindergartener Nick Muth during lunch in the cafeteria on Bring Your Daddy to School Day.