They read. They ate. They played.
Thirty-eight energetic Oxford preschoolers jam-packed the McDonald’s restaurant and indoor playland in Lake Orion Jan. 13 as their reward for reading a mind-boggling 872 books in just one month.
‘We were shocked,? said teacher Kelly Lee. ‘They really jumped into it.?
The students, who attend Lakeville Elementary, read as part of a Scholastic Book Club program that pledged to donate 1 million books to needy school districts across the country.
Oxford’s original goal was to read 380 books. Lee and her fellow teacher Kathy Ferguson were very surprised when the students accomplished it in about a week-and-a-half.
‘We decided to just keep going and see how many we could get,? Lee said. ‘At (ages) 3 and 4, they can’t read every word. There were a lot of them that would go through, look at the pictures and make up their own story. We would give them credit for that.?
Not only did the exercise help build students? reading and comprehension skills, it also allowed them to spend quality time with mom and dad. ‘Most of them, probably 75 percent of the books, were read at home with parents,? Lee said.
For each of the 872 books the preschoolers read, a link in a construction paper chain was made. ‘We stretched it out and it went all the way around the school,? Lee said.