Walking into Blanche Sims Elementary school on Dec. 4, visitors would have been very surprised at what greeted them.
The main hall was lined with hundreds of students clapping and cheering. Principal Jennifer Goethals was scampering up and down the hall in an outrageous outfit hula-hooping, jumping rope and bouncing on a ball.
The students loved it, but what in the world was she doing?
Celebrating, of course!
Ms. Goethals? ‘stunt? brought a close to the school’s month-long educational program, Reading Team. The program encourages students to read.
This year’s theme was ‘Olympics: Carry a Torch for Reading.?
At the beginning of the program Ms. Goethals made a deal with students, promising to perform a stunt of their design if they reached their goal – read 5,000 books by the end of the four weeks.
True to her word, she performed. In total, they read through 5,082 books.
The Reading Team program includes a big kick-off assembly, a gold medal design competition, weekly reading logs, and a reading marathon.
Katie Yamasaki also visited the school for Reading Team. She and her newly illustrated book were featured in the Review last week.