McCarthy Elementary Principal Serenades Students in A Space Suit

Principal Matthew Hanlon wore a "space suit" and sang Fly Me to the Moon to students yesterday, as part of a reading challenge.

The students in the K-5 school read more than 238,857 minutes this past week, equivalent to the the number of miles to the moon.

Students were asked to keep track of minutes read at home between March 2-9. For each minute read, it would equal a mile to the moon. If the students "read to the moon," Principal Hanlon said he would dress up as an astronaut and he would sing Fly Me to the Moon.

The reading challenge was the idea of McCarthy literacy specialist Debbie Bishop. Students recorded how much time they read (or for the younger children how much time a parent read to them.) Parents signed the forms and the reading challenge was charted daily for students.

Last week, Hanlon said he was practicing his song. He knew his students are not one to let a reading challenge fail. Last year, when the students reached their reading goal, Hanlon dyed his hair purple.

Hanlon sang not once yesterday, but three times to students.

His first performance was for the kindergarten and first grade students. The children clapped and screamed, like Hanlon was a rock star on stage and not a principal in a cafeteria.

Afterwards, many of the students wanted to  congratulate him, give him a hug or give a high five.

He got an equally warm "pop star" welcome from the second and third graders, too. His final performance of the day was for the fourth and fifth graders.