Students 'Mob' 1 Million Minutes of Reading

It's the sort of thing you usually only see on television.

But 's third, fourth and fifth graders performed a Flash Mob Assembly on June 13 to emphasized the green concepts of reducing clutter, reusing items and recycling. 

The students were organized by school counselor Jessica Sokol, and as part of the effort, the school collected close to 2,000 gently used books during a drive over the last few weeks of the school year. 

The Flash Mob and book drive were put in place to celebrate the students reaching their goal of reading 1,000,000 minutes as a learning community.

The flash mob event coupled with the book drive illustrated one of the “Four Paws of the Wolf” character education principles embedded within the daily life of the school, Win-Win.

Win-Win demonstrates the golden rule of treating others with kindness and seeking solutions that benefit the common good. This character education program developed by the school’s character education committee focuses on students taking the initiative to develop a strong character which includes role-modeling and leadership qualities. 

The ”four paws” are: Power to Choose, Plan for Today and Tomorrow, Part of the Pack and Win-Win.

“I think Mrs. Sokol is a fantastic school counselor, teaching us about the four paws and helping us out with the flash mob," fifth grader Ariel LaCosta said. "I feel like I left my mark at the school, I had an amazing time!”

”I think everybody understood the importance of the 3Rs. I had an awesome time bringing out the school wolf spirit of Flocktown," said Julia Pirrello, a fifth grader at the school.

The students have become 1,000,000 minutes smarter according to Meg DeFrance, the Literacy Instructor, who put the program in place kicked off earlier in the spring with the PTA’s Book Fair. 

The students and faculty worked hard to reach the goal. Realizing how fortunate they are to have constant access to literature, the students decided to “Pay it Forward” and bring in a new or gently used book to be donated to several organizations in New Jersey that care for children who are not as fortunate to have a literature-rich environment at home.

All of the student’s reading efforts were celebrated with the Flash Mob. Once again, the students of the Flocktown-Kossmann Elementary School created a Win-Win situation.

Flash Mob Students 5th Grade - Robert Moorehead, Joe Hayes, Matt Blount, Ben Atkinson, Ben Mauro, David McCrone, James Bilinsky, Lilah Sniderman, Vincent Vuskalns, Ariel LaCosta, Brian Cherifi, Kyle Wagner, Jake Ligos, Ethan Pisone, Ben Mascott, Julia Pirello, Nate Mange, Brandon Cannaveno, Maggie Cotter, Jessie Peerbotle, Lucas Lorenz, Ethan Cherubin.  4th Grade - Jake Dolan, Brianna Mikol, Alex Olejar, Olivia Malone, Lexi Ortiz, Chris Notaricola.  3rd Grade - Emily Garafalo, Gabriella Nowak, Emily Caulfield, Jordan Jackson, Vincent Jiang, Jordan Gregory.

All information and photo provided by Meg DeFrance.

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