In Sandra Miceli's fourth-grade classroom at Ilchester Elementary School, 25 students sit quietly at their desks with a book in hand. While the 30-minute session is part of their daily DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time, the students also are working toward another school-wide goal: reading 1 million pages by March 1.
The idea for the students to collectively read 1 million pages came from parent Patricia Bosenberg, of Ellicott City, whose 8-year-old son is now in the third grade and was reading Dan Gutman's "Miss Daisy is Crazy," last year. The story tells of a group of second-graders who want to buy a school and turn it into an arcade. Unable to pay for it, the principal allows the students to rent it for a day in exchange for the students reading 1 million pages.
Bosenberg thought Ilchester Elementary, in Ellicott City, could pull off something similar.
"We challenged the kids to read one million, saying we didn't think they could do it," technology teacher Kim Kettering said.
The school launched the project toward the end of the 2010-11 academic year. If the students achieve their goal, the school will host "Cheetah Fest" carnival night March 16 for families. Students who turn in their reading logs will be admitted free.
"The kids read 275,000 pages over the summer," said Ilchester reading specialist Tracey Albright, who added that students took pictures of themselves reading over the summer. The photos cover a bulletin board in the school. There is also a poster tracking the amount of pages the students have read in increments of 5,000.
As of Sept. 7, students had read 330,000 pages. "We have many, many children reading," Albright said. "The kids are motivated. They want to read all the time and want new books."
Albright said that to reach the goal "each child needs to read about 250 pages per month over the September through February time-frame," based on the school's approximate enrollment of 600 students. "The goal is to foster a love of reading," Albright said. "Instead of 'you have to read,' we want to share the love of reading with them."
Zachary Pamukcoglu, 9, of Ellicott City, said he's always enjoyed reading books because it's something for him to do when he gets bored. "I've always liked reading and I get in trouble sometimes" for reading when he's supposed to be paying attention in class. Zachary estimates he's read 30,000 pages since the reading project began.
Teachers are also keeping logs of what is read in the classroom and reading with siblings and parents counts as well.
Even the kindergarten students are helping. Every page the teacher reads to them counts. "They kids are doing their best to listen," Bosenberg said.
Tying the carnival fundraiser to the reading challenge does have one disadvantage.
"We realize with the cost of admission down, we're not going to earn as much money this year," Kettering said. "But it's a big, fun-filled family event. You can win huge baskets filled with items, have dinner and play carnival games."
She said there also will be a magic show, inflatables, vendors and arts and crafts. Ilchester Elementary staff members will run the games.
To help continue the students' drive to read more, Ilchester Elementary will host a "For the Love of Reading Day" Feb. 14, when members of the community read in classrooms. The school also will participate in the "Share the Gift of Reading" project by making bookmarks and donating gently used books to a local shelter.