Thomas signed her students up for the Red Wings for Reading Classroom Challenge, an initiative designed to inspire a love of reading for students across Michigan in grades K-5. Her class was one of 400 selected to participate, and one of 200 K-2 classes to compete.
The goal was for classes to read as much as they could, whether it was reading on their own, with a parent, or when someone read to the student. To determine a winner, each class’s total minutes read was divided by the number of students in the classroom. After the final calculations, Ms. Thomas’ class read a total of 38,647 minutes over four weeks, placing 20th overall and 10th among K-2 classes.
Thomas shared she was so proud of her class. While they didn’t earn a trip to a Red Wings game, Thomas’ students gained a love of reading through the process.
During class bathroom breaks, students were adamant about bringing buckets of books so they could read while in line. Students who struggle to read even felt moved to pick up a book and try their best. Thomas said the challenge brought breakthrough moments for her class.
“I’ve seen such incredible growth in the classroom,” Thomas said. “In Kindergarten, students are supposed to read at 46 sounds per minute. So many of my kids are reading more than 30 words per minute. I had one student write 118 words, and I cried. We weren’t doing this before, so they really bought in.”
The challenge also offered Thomas a perfect opportunity to focus on Moral Focus™ virtues. With so many books flying off her classroom shelves, Thomas made connections to virtues as they appeared. One book the group read as a class featured all nine virtues in action, showing students how these values apply to everyday situations.
Thomas also shared that perseverance was a natural tie in for the challenge. She said that some students reacted with pause because they weren’t the best readers, but Thomas encouraged them and showed them they could persevere.
The class received charm bracelets with one charm for each week of the challenge, making for a special momentum to remember the event. Thomas’ class did not earn the Red Wings-sponsored pizza party, but she was so proud of her students that Thomas threw them a pizza party to celebrate their hard work and growth.
Thanks to initiatives like these and the efforts of teachers like Thomas, Westfield students are benefitting and growing at every step of their educational journey.
Congratulations, Ms. Thomas and her whole class! Keep up the great work!
About Westfield Charter Academy
Westfield Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Redford, Michigan, serving students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies (NHA®) network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through high school across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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