“”Almost 400 students and staff at North Woods International School participated in the 14th annual Jumpstart Read for the Record. The North Woods family gathered to read, laugh, and learn as they took part in the world’s largest shared reading experience.
Students joined a story walk, combining the pleasure of reading the book aloud while walking together outdoors. A story walk is a fun, educational activity that places the pages from a children’s story along a walking route around the outside of the school. The story walk helps build student interest in reading while encouraging healthy outdoor activity and promoting the school’s theme of unity for both children and adults.
“This is another great way to connect kids to reading,” said North Woods International teacher Sara DePaolo. “Active learning is a goal at North Woods, and we hope the event sparks continued interest in story walks at school and develop some lifelong readers as well.”
This year’s Read for the Record event at North Woods utilized the school’s permanent story walk installation. Funded through a grant from the La Crosse Public Education Foundation and Coulee Bank, the story walk feature was added last year to get all students involved with reading in a fun and engaging way regardless of their reading level. The story walk feature helps add over 800 additional hours of reading at North Woods each year.
“This was a lot of fun because I got to hang out with my buddies and help the smaller kids learn how to read new words,” said third-grader Victoria Stojalowski. “I love reading. My favorites are chapter books. Books let me use my imagination.”
Each year, Jumpstart selects one children’s book as the catalyst for Read for the Record. This year’s Read for the Record book is “Thank You, Omu!” by author-illustrator Oge Mora. “Thank You, Omu!” tells the story of a generous woman who makes a fantastic pot of thick red stew. The scent from her stew travels all throughout her neighborhood and brings all of her community members over to her home for a taste. By the end, she shares a lovely feast with her neighbors where everyone contributes to the meal.
The annual campaign was launched over a decade ago to highlight the importance of building early literacy and language skills for every child. In 2013, Jumpstart broke the world reading record with 2,462,860 children and adults included in the shared reading experience. North Woods’ participation this year will help to try and break that record. Each year, the event brings together over 2 million people in classrooms, libraries, community centers, and homes across the United States.””””[vc_gallery type=”flexslider_slide” interval=”0″ images=”16221,16211,16217,16209,16210,16212,16213,16214,16220,16218,16223,16222,16216,16224,16225,16219″ img_size=”625×417″]””
