- November 27, 2024
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As Bunnell Elementary School third-grader Markiece Morgan climbed into the driver’s seat of a Chevrolet race car, his classmates waited in anticipation. Then, as Morgan stretched to see over the dashboard, Ray Stevens, of Daytona International Speedway, reached in and revved the engine. The sea of students watching Wednesday, Jan. 18, erupted in cheers of excitement.
The car was brought to the school as part of a program to get kids excited about reading for Celebrate Literacy Week Florida, which began Jan. 23.
“(Florida) has gone from a low-performing state to a high-performing state,” said Hope Colle, a representative from Just Read Florida.
Those successes are celebrated during literacy week.
“Without literacy, students can’t be successful in life, and we want all students to have a successful and productive life when they leave the K-12 setting,” Colle said.
Bunnell Elementary specifically has been working hard to implement a schoolwide reading initiative.
“We find that a lot of our students don’t have books in the home, so we really have to push it here to get students reading,” said Rebecca Ellis, reading coach at Bunnell. “Research shows that independent reading makes (students) much better readers, and that’s not always a priority at home.”
All schools in the district participated in literacy week with schoolwide and classroom activities. Students also participated Tuesday, Jan. 25, in a statewide activity, the Million Minute Marathon, in which students all over the state read and log their minutes. The state’s goal was 20 million minutes. Check www.PalmCoast Observer.com for an updated tally of minutes read.
