Contributed photo
District award winner Sanchita Dollin (center) with librarian Kim Rogers, Clifford, NHPS Supt. Madeline Negrón, and Scholastic's Liz Price.
The following write-up was submitted by New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon about Monday’s celebration of Supt. Madeline Negrón’s Reading Challenge.
Student winners of the Superintendent’s Reading Challenge gathered for breakfast with Dr. Madeline Negrón and Clifford, the Big Red Dog, at John C. Daniels School on Monday.
The month-long competition spurred elementary school students to read as much as they could, and the results were striking. Altogether, students increased their reading time from 250,000 minutes in the month of March to 1.6 million minutes during April. Seventy percent of elementary students participated in the challenge.
Students at John C. Daniels School spent the most time reading of any school in the district. First-grader Sarah Chevalier Rivera and eighth-grader Payton Erodici earned top honors at their grade levels, as did Natividad Mendez and Amanda Wheeler’s first grade classes, Diana Colon and Katherine Massa’s second-grade students, Jessica Andino and Erin McElhone’s fourth-grade students, and Brittany Bowdren and Aida Vales’ seventh- and eighth-grade students. Daniels’ fourth graders led the school, as did third-graders Julian Cordova and Dean Ngyuen and fourth-grader Olivia Diaz. The school boasts a 1,000 minute club for its biggest readers.
Worthington Hooker School is home to the district-wide reading champion: seventh grader Sanchita Dollin. Kindergartener Ethan Robert, sixth grader Dulansa Iappu Hannadige, and Heleni Koutsaplis’ sixth grade class all won at their grade levels.
Mauro Sheridan School second grader Lennox Byam and third grader Dante Vazquez, as well as Julia Anthony’s third grade, led the district at their grade levels.
Other grade-level winners included pre-kindergartner Tyson Roberts of Obama School, fourth-grader Dina Ishiyango of Truman School, and fifth-grader Mouhamed Richardson of Celentano School. Kudos to Elizabeth Reyes’ pre-kindergarten class at Ross Woodward School, Carol Boynton’s kindergarten class at Edgewood School, and Jennifer Seiden’s fifth-grade class at Bishop Woods, who also won grade-level honors.
“Remember to keep reading!” exclaimed Dr. Negrón at the end of the event.