Daniel Axford Elementary Principal Chad Boyd, endured his 38-degree night campout in a tent in front the school on April 13. And no, he wasn’t sleeping in a tent because his wife kicked him out of the house either.
DA’s theme for March is Reading Month was ‘Camp Read S’mores,? so to go along with the camping theme, Boyd agreed to sleep in a tent outside the school if his students met their reading minutes. Challenged to read 220,000 minutes the students met the goal with 264,000 minutes.
‘They did great. They certainly exceeded my expectations when they hit that 264,000 minutes,? Boyd said. ‘It was great to see them motivated. I wonder if we can read more than 264,000 next year. We’ll see.?
As a part of the theme, each classroom decorated its door in relation to camping and each week they had a camping-related event.
‘We had this really cool event, ‘Fish for a Good Book,? where we had the library decorated and the kids got in a boat in our library and went fishing,? Boyd explained. ‘We had fishing poles with little clips on the end and collected book donations and each kid left with a new book.?
During his campout, Boyd enjoyed the company of many of his students and their parents as they joined him to roast marshmallows and converse around the fire.
‘I think these are great events for a school to have, those social sort of informal things where the parents are talking to each other and gives me a chance to see some parents that I don’t always see,? he added. ‘It seemed like the kids just had fun running around and roasting those marshmallows. (I saw) a lot of black-charred marshmallows and they ate those just the same.?
His night in the tent wasn’t lonely either as his two youngest daughters, Ella, a third=grader at Clear Lake and Maddy, a first-grader at DA, were there. ‘They were the key to my warmth overnight,? Boyd said.
He noted that he was worried about the possibility of some students sneaking up late at night to pull some shenanigans on him, but all was quiet.
The fun of this year already has him thinking about what to do next year. ‘I don’t really have any ideas yet, I just (want) to keep that momentum and excitement around reading month.?