Local media specialist uses superhero powers to get kids excited about books
Posted on 10/17/2011 @ 12:01 PM
Dressed as “Super Reader,” complete with wig, Wonder Woman shirt and white superhero boots, media specialist Tiffany Weeks showed her real super power: getting kids fired up about reading. The pep rally was a kickoff event for the Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award Program, a statewide effort to get kids more interested in reading.
From every corner of the cafeteria, 500 voices ricocheted off the concrete walls, chanting:
“Power up (stomp, stomp),
Power up (stomp, stomp),
Power up (stomp, stomp),
Power up with reading!”
The idea to get Golden Terrace students involved in the Sunshine Young Reader’s Award Program came from Weeks’ own daughter, Madison. She credits that motivation to a little friendly competition. The reader who finishes the most books wins an entire basket of books. Readers that complete all 15 of the Sunshine State Reader’s books get to spend half a day being the school’s acting media specialist.
The idea for the pep rally, however, was more of an accident. Last year, Weeks planned an assembly to introduce the Sunshine Young Reader’s Award Program to her students. The assembly was to take place a few days before a superhero-themed book fair she’d planned. In an attempt to merge the two events, Weeks decided to conduct the assembly in a Wonder Woman outfit. From there, Super Reader was born.
And in case seeing their media specialist dressed as a super hero wasn’t enough to get her students fired up on the power of words, Weeks enlisted the help of local foundation K is for Kids. Since nothing jumpstarts the motivation better than the promise of something free, the K is for Kids Foundation swooped in (in true super hero style) and offered every child in the pep rally a free book, just for signing a reading pledge.
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