Mountain Vista students have set an ambitious goal to read 75,000,000 words this year. The school is using the Accelerated Reading Program and other methods to calculate the total. Since the program was rolled out on September 18th, the students have read 5,333,517 words. A giant thermometer is being used to record the word count progress. Each grade level has also set a classroom goal. When classroom goals are met teachers will have classroom level celebrations. When a student reaches one million words, balloons will be taken to the classroom, a photo taken of the student and the picture will be displayed in the office “Reading Wall of Fame”. Reading certificates will be given at the end of the year for the number of words read by the students. A school-wide celebration will be organized when we reach our goal such as a Hawaiian Day. Teachers have reported that their students are very motivated to read this year. So far Ms. Gray’s second grade class has already surpassed their goal of 250,000 words and Ms. Butts’ and Ms. Graves’ 5th grade classes have recently passed the 1,000,000 word mark.

Mountain Vista students have also benefitted from a recent book giveaway sponsored by Paula Phillips of the Right Road Kids organization. On Friday, October 4th, Paula and her staff, with the help of Mountain Vista parents, let each Mountain Vista student select two books to take home to keep. This really excited the students. There were smiles everywhere!