who told the students that “aside from
eating healthy and exercising, there is
no healthier habit than reading.”
The Drama Club was initially
approached by Memorial’s
Accelerated Reader Committee to
come to the school to speak to the
students for 10‑15 minutes about
the importance of reading, but the
high school students wanted to do
much more than that, so they wrote
two age-appropriate assemblies
(one for students in grades K-2 and
the other for students in grades 3-4)
that included re-written song lyrics
to songs the students would know,
costumes, props, skits and audience
participation.
Every student received a blue
wristband with the “Feed the Need to
Read” slogan on it.
The program was so well-received
that the high school students were
asked to perform the assembly at
Lincoln, to reward the students for
surpassing the school’s Accelerated
Reader Test goal. The students
were challenged to take 1,000 AR
tests in one day, but the students
demonstrated how much they’ve
been reading this school year by
taking over 1,600 AR tests!
Performing a Charlotte’s Web skit are BPHS students (front
row): Ian Maerkle and (back row, left to right): Patrick Raymond,
D.J. Miller, Cam Nickel and Wally Donnellan.
Patrick Raymond is one of the Book Busters.
Lincoln students hold a sign that says, “YORF.” It means You
Only Read Forever.
BPHS English Teacher Christopher Nagel as his alter ego, “MC Reads-A-Lot,” interacts with Memorial
students during the program.
Bethel Park High School students enjoyed performing for the
younger students.
Bethel Park | Summer 2014 | icmags.com 57
B E THE L PARK S CHOOL DIS TR IC T
B
ethel Park Elementary Students
learned how to “Feed the Need
to Read,” thanks to a wonderful,
original program presented by the
Bethel Park High School Drama Club.
The High School Drama Students
(better known as the Shake-A-Leg
Players) visited Memorial and Lincoln
Elementary Schools to present two
assemblies that were designed to
encourage students to read!
The high school students, wearing
t-shirts that said, “Feed The Need To
Read,” presented an originally scripted
program, filled with skits, songs and
dances that had the elementary
students on their feet--clapping,
singing and dancing to re-written
songs such as “Readin’ Bethel Style”
(“Gangnam Style”), “Book Busters”
(“Ghost Busters”) and “R-E-A-D”
(“YMCA”).
Skits included the Book Busters
finding a book-eating caterpillar
hiding among the elementary
students, two reading frogs and a slew
of frog puns, a milk and cookie-loving
mouse, Pete the Cat and his white
shoes, Charlotte and Wilbur, and Junie
B. Jones, to name a few!
Moderating the assembly was MC
Reads-A-Lot, better known as BPHS
English Teacher Christopher Nagel –
Bethel Park
ELEMENTARY STUDENTS
FEED THE NEED TO READ