Ephraim Elementary celebrates Readasaurus’s birthday

ByMarcy Curtis
Faculty members at Ephraim Elementary dress up for the Readasaurus “The Greatest Show” reading challenge last Friday. L- Alicia Blain, secretary; Jamey Oberg, substitute secretary; Gannon Jones, principal; Shauna Wayman, librarian; and Jennifer Jorgensen, library assistant. Photo by Marcy Curtis.
Ephraim Elementary school librarian, Shauna Wayman, celebrating her final Readasaurus party due to her retiring at the end of the year by showing off the principal, who had just had several pies thrown in his face by students for reaching their reading goal. Photo by Marcy Curtis.

      Every year, Ephraim Elementary celebrates their mascot’s birthday with a party and a day of reading.

      This year, the party theme was “The Greatest Show,” with Principal Gannon Jones as the Circus Ringmaster. The students came to school in either circus costumes or pajamas to read.

      The tradition was started 41 years ago by former principal Jim Peterson. He had the idea of creating a dinosaur mascot who loved to read.

      While celebrating, the students are given a reading goal to complete throughout the day. As a reward for meeting and passing the school’s goal, the students had the opportunity to slime the principal’s face with pies.

      The goal this year was to read 2,250 minutes as a school. When a class read for 15 minutes, they were able to ring a large gong. They needed to ring it 150 times to meet the goal, and they surpassed that by ringing it 290 times.

      “Ephraim Elementary School Librarian, Shauna Wayman, along with her team did an outstanding job putting everything together,” Alicia Blain, school secretary, said. “This was her last time celebrating Readasaurus’s birthday, as she will be retiring at the end of the school year.”

Circus Ringmaster, aka Principal Gannon Jones, entertains the students and encourages them to keep reading because “The Greatest Show is in a book.” Photo by Marcy Curtis.