Hot Springs Student Council holds reading carnival for elementary kids
Photos by Adam Herrenbruck Hot Springs first-grade teacher Kris Paro grimaces while her son Trevor plants a cream pie in her face at the Reading Carnival Wednesday. Trevor Paro and the rest of the Hot Springs Elementary School students participated in the Reading Carnival in the old gym at Hot Springs on the day before they broke for spring break.
The old gym at Hot Springs school was packed March 26 with excited elementary students as they lassoed, won prizes, and even got chances to throw pies in their teachers' faces.
The Hot Springs Student Council put on the carnival for kindergarten through sixth grade students who earned tickets for reading achievement and could use them to by prizes. They were also able to earn more tickets by playing various games at the carnival. The games included putt-putt golfing, football passing, free-throw shooting, fake-cow roping, bowling, and a bean-bag toss.
Besides the games, drawings were held for Easter baskets and a chance at some student-teacher revenge. Names were drawn out of a hat to decide who would get a shot at throwing pie in the face of a teacher. Some of those who were plastered with pie included elementary school Principal Sean Estill and Superintendent Larry Markuson. Fourth-grader Trevor Paro was the last name drawn, giving him the chance to smash a pie in the face of his mother, first-grade teacher Kris Paro.
President of the Hot Springs Student Council, Riley Pavelich, said the elementary students win the tickets based on how much they've read throughout the year. She said the games at the carnival serve as an additional opportunity for them to have fun and win more prizes.
Pavelich, a junior, said the student council has been holding the Reading Carnival for years and that it's something everyone appreciates. “We have a lot of fun and I think the kids enjoy it a lot,” Pavelich said.
She said the student council gets together to pick out the types of activities they want to offer and get lots of help from the two principals.
“We pick what games we want to do and set them up,” Pavelich said. “Mr. Markuson and Mr. Estill do a lot for us - they pretty much spearhead the whole thing.”
Paro said each teacher sets his or her own guidelines as to how their students can earn tickets and she has noticed an increase in the kids' motivation to read.
“I do find that kids are reading more at home,” Paro said. “I think it's a good thing.”
She said the school schedules the carnival to take place on the last day of school before spring break and it works well at that time. Paro said the Reading Carnival has been taking place for several years and it has been an aspect of the school that all the teachers like. She said that even through changes in superintendents, the Reading Carnival has been something the teachers never want to change.
Paro said she sees her students reading more even during their free time at school.
“I even see them picking up puzzles less and instead picking up books and trying to earn tickets to the carnival,” Paro said.