Fields Road Elementary School Students to be Recognized at 2nd Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival

Fields Road Elementary School Students Read More than 5,000 Books to Win Mayor’s Book Club Competition
Students to be Recognized Saturday, May 21 at 2^nd Annual Gaithersburg Book Festival (time to be deteremined)

PR From Gaithersburg – In the month of April, Gaithersburg third graders in nine different schools read 9,948 books as they competed for top prize in the Mayor’s 2^nd Annual Book Club Reading Competition, held in conjunction with the Gaithersburg Book Festival. 

Fields Road Elementary School won top honors, with 73 students reading 5,311 books.  Within Fields Road Elementary School, it was Ms. Elyssa Ram’s class that read the most books – 2,348 in all.  Earlier today Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz dropped by the school to congratulate them. 

During the Mayor’s visit, the students in Ms. Ram’s class selected “Thank You, Mr. Falker” by Patricia Polacco as the book they will read and discuss later this semester, when the Mayor returns for a pizza party.  It is an autobiographical story about the impact a fifth grade teacher had on the author as she struggled with reading.

Mayor Katz will continue the Book Club celebration at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on Saturday, May 21, 2011, where each student from the winning class will receive a gold-star membership card, a certificate, and a signed copy of the class picture taken with the Mayor.

The top individual reader in the City-wide contest was Khoa Huynh, who amazingly read 220 books in April. He is a student in Ms. Cathy Necciai’s class at Fields Road Elementary School.  As part of his recognition, Khoa will be invited to ride in the trolley with the Mayor and City Council during the 73^rd Annual Gaithersburg Labor Day Parade on September 5, 2011.

“I am so impressed with the number of books that were read during the competition this year,” said Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz.  “What they achieved amounts to about one book for every six residents in the City!  This is a great opportunity for young people to begin embracing the lifelong joys that reading can bring.” 

All participating students from the nine area elementary schools that took part in the competition, including Fields Road, Brown Station, Summit Hall, Strawberry Knoll, Watkins Mill, Judith Resnick, Washington Grove, Diamond, and Gaithersburg Elementary Schools, are now members in the Mayor’s Book Club.

About the Mayor’s Book Club Reading Competition

Throughout the month of April 2011, participating third-grade classes kept track of all teacher-approved books its students read as part of the Mayor’s Book Club. The class whose students read the most books won the competition. All elementary schools with a City of Gaithersburg student population of 10 percent or higher received an invitation to participate in the contest.

About the Gaithersburg Book Festival

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is an annual all-day celebration of books, writers, and literary excellence. In just its second year, the Festival is already becoming one of the premier literary events in the Washington region. The 2011 Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011, on the grounds of Gaithersburg City Hall, with shuttle buses running from nearby Lakeforest Mall.  Activities include appearances, discussions and book signings by more than 80 national bestselling and award-winning authors as well as local up-and-comers; writing workshops; a Children’s Village; a Coffee House with poets and singers/songwriters; onsite book sales, both new and used; exhibitors and, of course, food, drink, ice cream, and more. Admission, parking, and shuttle bus rides are free. For more information please visit www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org.