Wyjuana Montgomery
The Edmond Sun
EDMOND —
To the Editor:
As community relations manager for the Oklahoma City Thunder, I am writing to sing the praises of some Edmond Public Schools students. During the 2009-2010 Thunder regular season, the team was not only busy doing great things on the court, but it also was busy doing great things in the community.
Promoting reading and literacy was one such deed. The Thunder last fall launched its first Thunder Reading Challenge and invited all K-3 public school teachers in Oklahoma County to sign up their classes to participate. This challenge encouraged every student to read at least 20 minutes per day, since educational research has shown that 20 minutes of daily reading significantly improves reading skills. In the end, more than 400 teachers and nearly 9,000 students were registered to participate in this six-month challenge from Nov. 1 to April 30.
However, the teachers and students in Edmond had a particularly noticeable response to the Thunder Reading Challenge. Thirty-seven teachers representing 12 Edmond elementary schools took part in the contest. In addition, 851 students out of 8,995 registered were from Edmond, accounting for some 9.5 percent of all registrants.
Each month, teachers submitted the name of their top readers based on minutes read. The top readers in Edmond read 208,785 minutes, representing 20.83 percent of total minutes read by all top readers. The students and teachers in Edmond were among the most active and consistent participants.
I just wanted to take this time out to salute the teachers and students of Edmond Public Schools in their quest to promote reading and literacy. Furthermore, I want to encourage students to keep reading over the summer and, of course, participate in the Thunder Reading Challenge again next school year!
Wyjuana Montgomery
Oklahoma City Thunder
