The teachers and staff at Plains School went animal last week at an assembly in the gymnasium to celebrate the I Love To Read Program, dressing up as characters from Disney's "Jungle Book."

Superintendent Thom Chisholm went as King Louie, the orangutan character, while Kevin Meredith, the high school principal, donned a Bagheera panther mask and tail. Teacher George Sherwood went with the Shere Khan tiger look, also complete with mask and tail. Teacher Jaron Laws was masked as Baloo, the bear, for the assembly, although during the month of February, the I Love To Read month, Baloo was played by Jim Holland, the elementary school principal. Tyrel Allen, school counselor, was wrapped in a stuffed boa constrictor as Kaa during the assembly.

This year's I Love To Read Program national theme was "Jungle Book," but on the local level, Plains School went with "Elephants, Tigers and Books, Oh My," said Gena Ferlan, who heads the Title 1 program at Plains, which coordinates the program. Four hundred and seventy-five students from kindergarten to seniors took part in the program and earned points, .5 to 30, based on the difficulty level of books, throughout February. Kids from third to sixth grade competed to win a bicycle, complements of Masonic Ponemah Lodge 63 of Plains. Masons Steve Eberhardt and Bill Burrell were on hand to present the bike certificate to the winners, which included: Kylar Bannout, third grade, Cheyanne Wyatt, fourth grade, Emalee Bishop, fifth grade, and Asher Seymour of the sixth grade. The winner names were pulled out of a jar by the Masons. All of the non-winner names were then mixed together for a fifth bike. The winner was Blane Hamilton of the fourth grade.  

"The goal and purpose is to encourage and promote reading, not only in the younger grades, but throughout the high school and staff," said Denise Earhart, a member of the Title 1 staff and one of the program coordinators. The top readers for kindergarten were Gavin Brown and Isaac Erickson, though no points for them were recorded. For the first grade, Palmer Revier totaled 24.5 points and Jude Meaden got 25.9 points. Second-graders Emeline Russell collected 20.4 points and Clint Weedeman nabbed 23.8 points. In the third grade, Jeremiah Erickson had 45.6 points and Talon Ferlan had 75.7. Fourth-graders Annika Ercanbrack totaled 63.7 and Shay Nelson had 57. In the fifth grade, Ashley Ferlan collected 52.4 points and Emalee Bishop had 83.9. Antoine Schaff of the sixth grade had 66.5.

The top reader of the school was Ruthie Uli of the sixth grade with 84.3 points. "I like to read because it feels like you're in a different world and you can get lost in books," said the 12-year-old Uli, who likes to mostly read fantasy books.

Though last Wednesday's assembly was for kindergarten to sixth grade, the entire school could take part in the competition. First place in overall points went to the school staff, which chocked up 1,511.5 points. Debra Brown, the special education and a Title 1 teacher, took top honors with 348.5 points, which meant she read 19 books and won a $25 gift certificate, according to Lara Hagerman, the book fair coordinator. Staffer Holly Blood took second with 336.9 points - 15 books - winning a $20 gift certificate. High school English teacher Evelyn Laws received a $15 gift certificate for third with 222.7 points. 

The top high school students were 11th-grader Talmage Ercanbrack with 596.6 points, which translated to 33 books. In second was sophomore Trenis McDonald 355.1, 32 books, followed by sophomore Sam Wood with 30 books and 265.3 points, and in fourth was eighth-grader Amy Hill with 20 books amounting to 235.9 points. In fifth place was Emory Ercanbrack of the eighth grade with 192 points by reading 10 books. 

The national program was established to promote reading by kids, which is an primary path to knowledge and essential for academic growth, according to Ferlan, who's been with the I Love to Read Program for a dozen years. She said it teaches students a variety of things, such as spelling, grammar, vocabulary, composition, and comprehension. She suggests that kids read at least 20 minutes a day. "Reading is a vital part of our life and education, whether it's learning to read, reading a traffic sign, job application or reading for pleasure, we all are readers," said Earhart.

"During the month of February, kids increase their independent reading by double, sometimes even triple the amount they normally read because they are motivated by the prizes and the opportunity to participate in the assembly and/or win a free bike from the Masons," said Earhart, who led the hall decoration project with the "Jungle Book" and animal themes. "We also give students extra time to read. This time allows them to find books they love and hopefully impact them in a way to never stop reading. We would love all of our students to become life-long readers," she added.

The assembly included competitions by selected students and the staff, who started with a "Banana Bobbin" contest, where they had to pluck whole bananas from a tray of water using only their mouth. The winner was Tyrel Allen. Two students from each grade from kindergarten to sixth ran an obstacle course by hopping "logs," jumping over "quick sand," crossing a "river," and climbing through "vines." The winners were: Gavin Brown, Palmer Revier, Clinton Weedeman, Talon Ferlan, Annika Ercanbrack, Ashley Ferlan, and Antoine Schaff. 

Chisholm challenged Sherwood to the obstacle course. Sherwood was in the lead until they reached the vines, the final obstacle. Sherwood dove under, but Chisholm decided to leap over the three chairs holding the vines and claimed victory. Sherwood said he would have won had Chisholm went through the vines. "I guess he forgot that monkeys don't crawl, they jump," said King Louie Chisholm.

The event included a book fair in the school library and for the second year a Family Fun Night Thursday evening in the cafeteria, where kids could part take in nearly a dozen games, such as Wild Animal Blocks, Pin the Tiger's Tail, Lucky Monkey, Jungle Animal Memory, and Animal Sort. The Title 1 staff baked around 15 dozen goodies for the event. 

Ed Moreth

BANANA MAN – Tyrel Allen gets a mouth full of water with the scooping of the last banana to claim victory in the Banana Bobbin contest.

Chisholm was unsure how long Plains School has participated in the annual reading  program, but he thinks it's been since he's been at the school, which is 27 years. "With all the games, fun and silliness, the most important building block of education is reading," said Chisholm.