Wacky Wednesday - Crazy things Principals and Teachers do to Encourage Reading
We're coming up on Dr. Seuss Day of Reading celebration. I was looking for crazy ideas to share with you about how to encourage reading in children, when I came across this post from:
Gary Hopkins : on Monday, November 15, 2010 (Thanks, Gary! I've edited it a little.)
Fun 'Challenges' Engage
Kids, Families in Reading
Kids lined the sidewalk in front of a Buckhannon (West Virginia) Academy
Elementary School as
their teachers raced by in teams of two. It was just before Halloween,
so teachers dressed in football uniforms, pink rubber boots, and toilet paper
might not have seemed such an odd sight -- except for the fact the costume-clad
educators were pushing each other on office chairs!
The office chair race was a reward for students who earned the goofy
high-speed event by reading more than 9,000 books in summer. “This was a great activity for the kids,” said Principal Randall Roy, who
emceed the race. “They had a great time.”
Halfway across the country reading specialist Sandy Lambert and
Principal Kim Lasanby-Barber dressed as pirates and “walked the plank” as
students cheered them on. The pirate-themed celebration culminaed the fall reading challenge at Lincoln
School in Spring Valley, Illinois.
Students earned the reward by exceeding the goal of reading for 80,000 minutes.
The school’s 200 students read for a total of 196,310 minutes.
READING CHALLNGES FROM COAST TO COAST
Principals and teachers across the country do all sorts of crazy things to
encourage students to pick up books and read. Here are more examples of
schools in the middle of “reading challenges".
Students at William E. Young School in Homer Glen, Illinois, are involved in a 100,000-minute
reading challenge. “If 95 percent of Young Elementary students read 30 minutes
a night, that means our school will have read 100,000 minutes total in just one
week,” said Principal Michael Szopinski. If students achieve the goal,
Szopinski will don reindeer antlers
and a blinking red reindeer nose during the week of November 29.
If all goes to plan, students at Stafford (Texas) Primary School will see their
principal, Kim Yen Vu, in a dunking booth next spring. The year-long
“Principal’s Reading Challenge” has been going on at Stafford
for a few years. Back in 2008, Vu kissed a pig when students reached their
goal. This past year, she sat atop a wall -- the school’s marquee -- dressed as
Humpty Vu-mpty. This year, teachers and students “aim” to see Principal Vu
soaked.
Students at Bonneville Elementary School in Orem, Utah
-- where the school mascot is a bronco -- had a year-long “Top Bronco”
reading challenge. Parents log students’ at-home reading minutes on monthly
calendars. The goal is for K-2 students to read 50 hours during the school year
and grade 3-6 readers to read 75 hours, explained Principal Shawn Brooks. To
motivate students, a January “half-way-there” banana split party will be held for students who've achieved half their goal. A “Double Club” movie party will be held for students who read
double their goal.
At West Rocks
Middle School in Norwalk, Connecticut,
students take on the “Read Around the World Reading Challenge.” Students
earn “miles” for each book they read on their way to 29,000 miles. To be
precise, a trip around Earth is 24,901 miles, but students will stop off
in -- and learn about -- some of the world’s major cities as they
travel. “As students participating in the Read Around the World
Reading Challenge will get raffle tickets and be eligible for prizes,” added Dr. Lynne C. Moore, the school principal.
At Burr Intermediate
School in Commack, New York,
the “Burr Reading Challenge” encourages students to make reading a daily habit,
with special events to motivate them to read. During October
students wrote book reviews on paper bags.. The
“paper bag book reviews” are displayed throughout the school in (American Education
Week), and after that week the bags will go back to the
supermarkets to share with the community.
Reading is a community event in other
ways at Burr. October 25 to December 3, students participate in the
annual Ronald McDonald House Read-a-Thon. The read-a-thon raised
more than $2000 for the Ronald McDonald House. Students also collected books to
donate to a Suffolk
County homeless shelter.
[read more]
MORE FROM EDUCATION WORLD:
Find more ideas for motivating student reading in these Education World
articles:
Principals’ Feats Fuel Fabulous Reading
What would students do to see their principal throw cow chips, spend a night on
the roof, or get slimed? It turns out that they will do a great deal -- of
reading! Included: From becoming ice cream sundaes to singing songs and kissing
pigs, see what principals have done to encourage their students to read.
Principals Make Reading a School-Wide Goal
Students pledge to read thousands of pages… First- and fifth-graders buddy up
for reading… Those events and others are part of school-wide reading programs
at two Minnesota
schools. Included: Additional activities to help make reading a school-wide
goal.
What are other ideas you can think of to challenge and then reward your students for reading! Make Reading Fun!
Tags: contests, reading, reading challenges, crazy stunts, winning, helping
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