Reading is Out of This World

Is it possible to promote literacy by dressing as a green alien? According to Principal Edwin Acevedo, the answer is a resounding "yes." This week, the principal, known to the faculty and student body as Mr. A for Acevedo, transformed to Mr. A for alien because he said, "we want
our kids to read."

Mr. A challenged the students to reach a goal of purchasing more than 850 books at their recent Scholastic Book Fair. The theme, chosen by Scholastic, was "reading is out of this world." Keeping with the motif, Mr. A told the students if they achieved the purchase goal he would dress for the day as either a robot or an alien.

The students voted on their preference and the votes were counted by the fifth grade student council. The alien won out with 224 votes to the robot's 117. The book fair, which was held last week, exceeded purchase expectations with a total of 1,057 books procured. As a result, Mr. A became an alien for the day.

Wednesday was the chosen day for his transformation. Speaking in a robot voice and dressed in full alien garb which included green makeup, prosthetic ears, a cape, sunglasses, headband and nameplate necklace, Mr. A told Mr. Roberts' kindergarten class, "I'm here because you wanted me to be here today." Then, in keeping with the space theme, he read "There’s No Place Like Space" by Dr. Seuss to the students.

Incorporating vocabulary words, critical thinking and comprehension into storytime, he discussed constellations, telescopes and what it means to be an astronomer with the children. Eager to answer questions, the flurry of raised hands demonstrated the students' engagement and understanding of the topics discussed during their special alien storytime.

"This was the best book fair in our history," said Lisa Duke-Lees, the school's book fair chairperson. She started out working with the fair two years ago as a volunteer and has grown with the bi-annual event.

Duke-Lees believes one of the keys to success is parental support. "So many kids came with their [book] wish list filled out and the exact money to buy everything on the list. Parents really supported the kids," she said. She also received help running the daily operations of the fair with volunteer students from Montclair State University as well as about 30 parent volunteers.

 Duke-Lees gives the real credit for the event to Mr. A for looking at the "big picture" and "tying everything together." The book fair coincided with parent-teacher conferences as well as Literacy Night which was held in the school's gym last Wednesday.

The school's reading specialist Ms. Sissman along with the art teacher Mrs. Ledesma transformed the gym into stations representative of the eight planets in our solar system. At each station were space-themed books and activities.

With , Mr. A is happy to see his students rise to reading goals. He said he wants to promote literacy. "Anything we can do to get the kids to read, any silly stunt, is well worth it."