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McGraw Elementary Students Find Reading Rocks

Posted on: Saturday, 10 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Diana Suarez, The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.

Jun. 10--Just like at the Oscars, only special guests were invited to the concert at McGraw Elementary School on Friday.

To be invited, the students had to read 40 books apiece between January and May. About 200 students, in grades kindergarten through sixth, rose to the challenge that had been made to them by Principal Chris Clayton. For their efforts, they were treated to the tunes of Yuma rock band Midlife Crisis.

Dozens of students rose from their seats in the school cafeteria and danced as the band played such songs as "La Bamba,""Blue Jam,""Shine" and some blues.

At one point, bass player Ernie Cano climbed off the stage and walked among the students, playing his instrument all the while. Clayton, himself a musician, got into the act by playing drums with the band.

But before all that, teacher Juanita Castro and her fifth-grade class performed the cha-cha-cha and line dances in an opening act.

The concert was "a wonderful idea for the kids," Castro said. "It's a special treat for those (students) who read more than 40 books."

Not only did students have to read books to meet the reading goals, they had to pass a test to show they understood what they read.

The school previously set reading goals for its students, but this year Clayton, a first-year principal at McGraw, was looking for a new way to motivate the students to crack the books. It was then that he came up with the idea of the rock concert as a "reward for those students who have achieved their reading goal," he said.

He brought up the idea with Cano, the school's police resource officer. It just so happened Cano was a member of Midlife Crisis, and the group was booked for the performance.

As she waited for the performance to begin, Emily Romero, a third-grader at McGraw, said she was looking forward to seeing how her principal handled the drums.

Emily said she found the reading challenge "interesting" and that "The Boxcar Children" was her favorite book. "It's a mystery book. It gets really interesting at the end of each chapter," she said.

The book "Horrible Harry" taught third-grader Jasmin Bautista "that it's not nice to be mean," she said. Bautista said Harry was a mean boy who liked to be rude to people.

"I like to read because there are some interesting books that I can read," she said.

Teacher Patricia Thompson said she was happy that 16 of her 21 second-graders met the goal and were able to attend the concert.

At the close of the concert, Clayton told the students: "You read all the books you were suppose to read. Thank you."

"Next year will be another award," he added.

Diana Suarez can be reached at dsuarez@yumasun.com or 539-6857.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.)

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