Children excited about reading

Everyone over at Webutuck Elementary School got pretty wrapped up in a reading challenge recently, when state Assemblyman Marcus Molinaro threw out his annual dare to students before the summer break. The challenge was to read for 15 minutes or more a day during July and August and in return, well, that’s where the fun started.

Thanks to the involvement of an enthusiastic and good-natured principal, Katy McEnroe, the students were voracious in their reading. They ripped through last year’s record of 141 participants in the summer reading challenge with 177 children in grades kindergarten through sixth participating this year. Wow. That’s something to be proud of, and then some.

So what did McEnroe do in exchange for the students winning the dare? She allowed herself to be wrapped up like a mummy!

What a great, and entertaining, idea. The students really got a kick out of it. Those who participated in the reading challenge were allowed to draw on large strips of paper which were then taped onto the principal, covering her many times over.

There are certainly few better ways to encourage student participation than to make an activity interesting, engaging and fun. Between McEnroe and Molinaro, they managed to accomplish all three. Kudos to them both for enticing the students to read so regularly and to all of those children themselves, who read so diligently throughout the summer; let’s hope the practice of reading becomes ingrained and habitual.

The Webutuck school district should also get a nod for encouraging this type of education and social interaction. It may be out of the box, but there’s no doubt it’s successful. Just the jump in the number of participants from last year to this year alone shows its effectiveness. The elementary school is already working on ways to get all 400 of its students involved in the reading challenge this upcoming summer. If the school partners with Molinaro once again, and dreams up challenges like the one laid out this year, there’s little doubt they’ll be able to encourage new participants. (It had better be good though, as it’s hard to beat a mummified principal!)

The bottom line here is that the summer reading challenge has promoted good reading habits among a large group of elementary students for the past six years. It’s a strong program at Webutuck and one which the district should be both proud and protective of.

The school’s partnership with Molinaro has worked well throughout the years and the children love to see the assemblyman’s dares come to fruition. If that’s what it takes to get them to read all summer long, than so be it. Then once the academic year begins, the students who participated in the summer reading program are surely better prepared to start a new grade with more advanced reading assignments and the latest books, thus beginning an exciting new chapter in their ever-evolving school careers.

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