Students rewarded for reading

The Plains School gym was louder than a Taylor Swift concert Friday as elementary students celebrated the end of I Love To Read month. There was no pop star in the building, but there were dozens of students excited and ready to throw whipped cream "pies" into the faces of teachers.

The assembly last week started with Principal Kevin Meredith drawing names from each group to win a Gatorade. Meredith added suspense to the drawing by first announcing the grade of the winner, pausing before announcing which teacher nominated them, and finally the name of the winning student. With each word out of Meredith's mouth, the students grew more excited and finally erupted in screams of delight when each winner was announced. Winners of the Gatorades were drawn from students who had received a "Horsemen & Trotter Proud" card during the week. The cards are given to students who demonstrate the qualities of a Horsemen or Trotter including hard working, respectful or proud. Each week, students are drawn to receive Horsemen and Trotter gear, but Meredith said last week the Gatorades were special to the pie throwing event.

Elementary students were divided into groups by grade level for the month of February, and each group set reading goals. The groups were kindergarten through second grade, third and fourth graders, and fifth and sixth graders. For every 100,000 words read over their goal, a student was chosen to throw a pie in the face of a staff member. The pies were piles of whipping cream scooped and sprayed onto cardboard cake circles. They were topped with red "cherries," circles cut out of paper.

Seventy-eight students were able to throw the makeshift pies at staff members. If you do the math, that is 7.8 million words read above the groups' goals. "You did a great job this month and get to throw 78 pies," Meredith told the elementary students.

Teacher Jill Rice had a spinning wheel from a computer projected in the gym. The wheel included the names of teachers and administrators who volunteered to have a pie thrown in their face. Rice spun the wheel with the click of a button. As it slowed down on teachers' names, the students again screamed in delight. As it landed on the first name, the students acted like they had won the lottery, while third-grade teacher Madisen O'Mara did not look as excited to be the first up to the seat.

The teachers chosen proceeded to the gym floor, sat down and donned a plastic trash bag to protect their clothing and safety glasses for eye protection. They then held a sign decorated as a clown and put their faces through a hole where the clown's face would have been. Meredith then called down students by grade level and the Title I staff handed each student a pie. From there, Meredith counted down from three and as he said "one," pies flew at the teachers.

Third graders got to throw pies at O'Mara, second graders at their teacher Cindy Gumm, and first graders at teacher Kylee Ishler. The sixth graders went next, hurling pies at counselor Tanna Klammer, who got perhaps the worst of any teacher. As she pulled the sign away, her face and hair were covered in whipped cream. Kindergarten students got to throw pies at Title I teacher Gena Ferlan, who helped organize the event. The fourth graders were next, hitting teacher Dana Diehl. Finally the fifth graders had their shot at teacher Cristina Winebrenner.

Denise Earhart helped get the 78 pies ready for the kids to throw. "It's all about the kids and making it fun for them, encouraging them to read and rewarding them," Earhart said as the staff cleaned up the whipped cream after the assembly.

Along with the pie-in-the-face assembly, the staff organized a Candyland-themed carnival for elementary students to enjoy this past Monday. The event was coordinated by Earhart with help from Marla Dykstra, Ferlan, Holly Blood, Nichole Cockrell, and Erin Miller. National Honor Society students helped run the stations.