Forest Brook Tops Nation & Bretton Woods Rounds Out Top 10 in Lightsail 25 Challenge Individual Students Score 1st, 2nd, 4th & 5th Place in Nation as Readers
Forest Brook hosted an assembly to reveal to the school’s fourth and fifth grade students that they won the First Place Elementary School and First Place Student Reader in the nation in the LightSail 25 Challenge. Bretton Woods Elementary School also was the proud winner of 10th place among all the elementary schools in the nation that participated in the Challenge.
The LightSail 25 Challenge was held from January 9, 2017 to February 10, 2017. It was open to fourth and fifth grade students in classrooms across the United States – uniting them with the common goal of reading as much as possible during each day of the Challenge. Approximately 126 fourth and fifth grade Forest Brook students participated in the contest, logging in 173,004 minutes of reading – a whopping average of 1,373 minutes (nearly 23 hours) of reading per student to secure the School’s first place win! Bretton Woods Elementary School students logged an impressive 125,335 total minutes of reading during the Challenge period to win 10th place in the nation.
Forest Brook Fifth Grade Student Max O. was the top individual reader in the LightSail 25 Challenge with 5,662 total minutes of reading. The following Forest Brook and Bretton Woods students also scored extraordinary rankings among the Top 50 Readers in the Nation in the LightSail 25 Challenge:
●Max O., Forest Brook, 1st Place
●Andrew M., Bretton Woods, 2nd Place
●Sadiq S., Bretton Woods, 4th Place
●Alex O., Forest Brook, 5th Place
●Ashleigh G., Forest Brook, 9th Place
●John M., Forest Brook, 12th Place
●Vincent C., Forest Brook, 29th Place
●Sara C., Forest Brook, 38th Place
●Michael R., Forest Brook, 49th Place
Forest Brook and Bretton Woods students used their digital devices to read engaging books that were customized to their reading levels for the LightSail 25 Challenge. Reading took place in a game-type atmosphere with real-time feedback that today’s children crave. Students received daily recognition in a playing field equalized not by ability, but by using grit and perseverance to put in the time. Classroom teachers also received real-time access to meaningful data about the students’ reading behavior, comprehension and growth during the Challenge period.
Forest Brook and Bretton Woods teachers also achieved impressive rankings in the LightSail 25 Challenge – placing in the Top 20 in the Nation in the contest:
●Eileen Gatto and Kristin Huber, Forest Brook, 4th Place
●Eileen Doda, Forest Brook, 6th Place
●Donna Garvey, Forest Brook, 7th Place
●Jeanine Brusca and Bill Boehle, Forest Brook, 8th Place
●Deborah Fiorini and Carrie Pecoraro, Forest Brook, 10th Place
●Karen Karpowicz, Bretton Woods, 12th Place
●Dolores Behme, Forest Brook, 13th Place
●Barbara Leventhal, Bretton Woods, 19th Place
“Our class embraced the LightSail 25 Challenge with its usual exuberance,” said Forest Brook Fifth Grade Teacher Eileen Doda. “Students checked on their progress minutes every morning and were extremely proud to display these minutes on our chart. How awesome it is to also have the Number One reader in the nation in our class! The LightSail 25 proved to build the stamina or every one of my students as a reader. I am so proud of my students’ reading accomplishment as they worked together to reach a common goal.”
As the LightSail 25 Challenge winner, Forest Brook Elementary School will be awarded $3,000 worth of ebooks from the LightSail organization.