Michigan 53rd House District Rep. Rebekah Warren and Washtenaw County Commissioner Jeff Irwin, took turns reading to a class of Burns Park third graders during Friday's Read-a-thon. Warren is running for the 18th Senate District seat this fall, while Irwin has announced his candidacy for Warren's House seat.
Jessica Webster | AnnArbor.com
Michigan 53rd District State Rep. Rebekah Warren and Jeff Irwin, a member of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, walked into the Burns Park Elementary library on Friday afternoon to greet a class of third graders who were busily reading.Â
"Hi kids! What are you reading today?" Warren asked. She and Irwin laughed as the kids all shouted out the names of their books.Â
"Jeff Irwin and I work in government. Have you studied government yet? When you elect us, it's our job to work for you, taking care of everything from potholes in the streets to getting money for your schools," Warren added.
The local politicians had been primed by school media specialist Rachel Erdstein before making their way to the library. With help from Ms. Erdstein, Irwin and Warren agreed to collaborate on one book, and chose one book each to read individually.Â
Burns Park Media Specialist Rachel Erdstein coordinated the "March is Reading Month" activities at the school.
Jessica Webster | AnnArbor.com
Friday was the final day of a month-long reading celebration, organized by elementary media specialists in the Ann Arbor public schools. Burns Park students were challenged to read for a combined total of 325,250 minutes, with each student signing a "reading contract," promising to read a certain number of minutes outside of school hours.Â
Special events were scheduled throughout the month to help boost excitement, culminating with Friday's Read-a-thon. Parents and community members were invited into the school to read their favorite children's books in the classroom. At the end of the day, after all the reading minutes were tallied up and it was determined that the students had exceeded their reading goal, they were rewarded with a special performance by local magician Jeff Wawrzaszek.
Jessica Webster oversees Food & Drink and Books coverage for the Community Team at AnnArbor.com. She's also the mother of a Burns Park second grader and is overwhelmingly grateful for all that Rachel Erdstein and all the elementary school media specialists do to inspire a love of reading. You can reach her at JessicaWebster@AnnArbor.com.
