Prep Roundup Week 2
September 16, 2015
Terrebonne sheriff and deputies sued over shooting of teen
September 22, 2015
Students at Lisa Park Elementary School spent the summer immersing themselves in the riveting worlds created by some of their favorite authors, logging over 2 million reading minutes, an accomplishment that earned the elementary school a spot in the “2016 Scholastic Book of World Records.”
Students in kindergarten through first grade logged reading minutes online from May 4 through Sept. 4 as part of the annual Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, a free global program aimed at encouraging children ages 4-14 to read not only during the school year, but every day.
Minutes were tallied on the program’s website with the top 20 schools receiving a spot in the book of world records for the most minutes read. In total, participating schools logged 286, 611, 349 minutes.
Lisa Park Elementary School Librarian Wendy Jeffcoat said this was the school’s first time participating in the program and is excited with how motivated the students were to participate.
“The hardest thing was teaching them what reading looked like,” she said. “You read in class, you read a math problem, you read a social studies page. I had to explain to them what that looked like. It’s not just reading a book in the summer.”
Over the summer, students could meet with Jeffcoat at the Terrebonne Parish Public Library on Wednesday evenings to read together, a decision she chose to do to keep them interested outside of the classroom.
When the students returned in August, the librarian consistently pushed the students to read, checking the school’s ranking among other participating schools with each class weekly.
Lisa Park landed 15th overall on a list of several hundred participants across the globe. They also logged the most minutes in Houma and in Louisiana. In addition to the school’s name in the book of world records, the school will also receive a banner and a plaque to honor the accomplishment.
“I bugged them to death,” Jeffcoat said. “Every time I saw them, I asked them if they were reading. As it grew and the number went down, it was like their own little thing and they got so engrossed in it.”
The program also offered the librarian the opportunity to teach about working hard and doing things the right way.
“From the beginning, I let them know that it wasn’t about winning,” she said. “I didn’t want them to win by cheating. I wanted them to do it the right way and they were excited about where we ended up. Who wouldn’t want their name in a book?”
It was also a way to teach the students just how enjoyable stepping away from computers and cell phones and picking up a book can be, she said.
“Studies show that students that read more, learn more and better,” Jeffcoat said. “They really and truly have better test scores, bigger imaginations. I let them read what they like to read too. The other stuff will come easier that way. I’m a digital, techy fool but I love the feel of a good book. Kids today need to learn the joy of being still and know that it’s all you and you can make a character however you want it to look like. Some kids don’t have that opportunity to be still and enjoy it.”
Librarian Wendy Jeffcoat was instrumental in helping Lisa Park Elementary School win a spot in the 2016 Scholastic Book of World Records.
