{"id":10826,"date":"2023-03-21T09:56:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T13:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10826"},"modified":"2023-03-30T11:30:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T15:30:43","slug":"all-district-reads-leaves-students-spellbound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/all-district-reads-leaves-students-spellbound\/","title":{"rendered":"All District Reads leaves students spellbound"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Magician Nathan Rhodes wows New Castle students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

– by David Schleck<\/p>\n

More than 4,700 VBCPS fifth graders are reading \u201cEllRay Jakes is Magic!\u201d this month for All District Reads, which puts a free book into the hands of students and encourages them to read aloud and discuss the story with their families, classmates and community.<\/p>\n

All District Reads is a nonprofit that partners with parents, schools and local communities to help bridge the literacy gap among elementary school students. VBCPS, in its inaugural year with the program, chose the \u201cEllRay Jakes\u201d book by Sally Warner because of its lively plotline about a lovable third grader whose family, friends and teachers help him overcome anxiety leading up to a school talent show.<\/p>\n

New Castle Elementary kicked off National Reading Month with a performance by magician Nathan Rhodes. Just like the character EllRay Jakes, Rhodes learned magic tricks at a young age. He shared with New Castle students that he was shy when he was growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagic helped me make friends,\u201d Rhodes said. \u201cIt helped me get rid of my stage fright and meet new people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students and teachers joined Rhodes on stage for several tricks. He made a cup of water disappear just before it doused a student, and he saved a teacher\u2019s smartphone from being crushed by a hammer. The audience oohed and aahed after each trick, and there was plenty of applause when principal Heather Quinn announced that volunteers would be handing out free copies of \u201cEllRay Jakes\u201d to all the fifth graders.<\/p>\n

All 55 elementary schools had fun with the book, including a \u201cDress Like A Magician Day\u201d held at Ocean Lakes Elementary. The Noblemen are also volunteering at concluding events at several elementary schools, which include asking students trivia questions and giving away free books.<\/p>\n

Virginia Beach City Public Schools hopes to expand All District Reads to all elementary grade levels next school year. The Noblemen of Virginia Beach and The Blocker Foundation generously provided funding for the books and program materials.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Members of The Noblemen charity pass out free copies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A video playlist of Dr. Spence and several local celebrities reading \u201cEllRay Jakes\u201d is available on the VB Schools YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cReading not only develops the mind, it opens up worlds of opportunity for children and adults alike,\u201d said Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence. \u201cVBCPS encourages families and community members to explore their shared love of books, writers and storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
New Castle first grader Emelia Quihuis and fifth grader Tevin Thornton helped magician Nathan Rhodes with his tricks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Noblemen prepare books for distribution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
New Castle Elementary fifth graders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– by David Schleck More than 4,700 VBCPS fifth graders are reading \u201cEllRay Jakes is Magic!\u201d this month for All District Reads, which puts a free book into the hands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10826"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10877,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10826\/revisions\/10877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}