When Mallory Ortberg, 10, strolls into class, she often has a book in her hands.
This passion for reading is what the staff and parent-teacher association at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Hoffman Estates want for all 723 pupils in the kindergarten through 6th grade building, said Principal Nancy Chalex.
To help get the message across, the school recently held a Blast Off With Reading program. Parents dressed in blue space suits, and a local hobby shop launched 20 model rockets to add fuel to the children’s imagination.
Chalex said that although the children at Thomas Jefferson are motivated readers, it always helps to offer incentives to encourage further reading. The six-week program invited children in kindergarten through 2nd grade to read 10 minutes a day and children in 3rd through 6th grade to read 20 minutes per day.
In the hallway, a rocket charted the reading progress.
With the amount of reading Mallory does, it likely sent the ship into orbit.
“She’s the only kid in school (encouraged) to read a little less,” her mother, Nancy Ortberg, said in jest.
Reading at home is what educators encourage, Chalex said. “Kids learn to read by reading,” Chalex said. “Kids are going to be readers if they have good role models like a parent or grandparent.”
