Staff writer
Although they were aiming for 500,000 words, five Marion Elementary School students have reached the 1-million-word mark with three months left in the year.
Fifth-graders Cade Harms, Devin Regnier, and Nathan Baldwin along with sixth-graders William Adame and Emily Schneider read several books to reach 1 million words.
“They all love to read,” fifth and sixth grade teacher and program coordinator Laura Baldwin said.
Only books count toward a student’s final word count; Baldwin estimates that some students have read as many as 25 books over the course of the year.
For comparison, one of the largest Harry Potter books is a mass of 750 plus pages, containing 257,045 words. Baldwin said that the average size of the books students read is about 250 pages.
Each student reads at a different level. The higher-level students may take on bigger books like “The Lord of The Rings.”
The students are working toward a reward paid for by the Parents Advisory Council, possibly a trip to play laser tag.