Fifth-graders pelt principal after reaching reading goal
By Bruce Walton
NORTH LIMA
The South Range Middle School’s fifth-graders lined up along the sidewalk, armed with water balloons as their principal Dan Szolek, dressed up in a Santa costume, ran down the line.
Wave after wave, the students pelted their principal with water balloons in temperatures just below freezing.
This was the reward they earned after reaching their first goal of the school year of reading 1,000 books last week.
“It’s nothing to do something like this if the students are going to follow through on their reading goals,” Szolek said, still damp from the event.
Students reached the first milestone in the 40-book challenge, in which every student in fifth grade attempts to read 40 books by the end of the school year.
Szolek said their goal is reaching 4,000 books since their fifth-grade class averages up to 100 students.
Kimberly Vivacqua, the fifth-grade language arts teacher who first came up with the idea of incentives, said students set their own goals to see what they read every nine weeks.
The school has been conducting the 40-book challenge for nearly a decade, she said, but school officials only tried adding incentives such as this since last year to motivate their students.
In the book “Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind” by Judy Finchler and Kevin O’Malley, Miss Malarkey performs crazy feats, such as dyeing her hair and sleeping on the school roof to encourage her students to read.
Last year, Szolek did the same things Miss Malarkey did for every goal the students reached. But this year, they decided to allow the students to choose their own rewards.
After adding the incentives, Vivacqua said it motivates her students to read like never before.
Brady Crumbacher, a fifth-grader who hit Szolek twice with water balloons, said his favorite book is “Dog Man,” a children’s graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants. Though not on the list of accepted books, the class adores it, the fifth-graders said.
Adrianna Habeger, a fifth-grader, said her favorite book so far is “Dear Dumb Diary” by Jim Benton, about a girl surviving middle school.
“The key is that they’re more interested in reading, they’re excited about reading, which just helps the motivation levels,” Vivacqua said.
Even now, she said the students are discussing their reward for reaching the next goal of 2,000, where students have an ice cream social and cover their principal in sundae toppings and ice cream.