Reading Battle

Students at Roanoke Avenue Elementary School in the Riverhead Central School District were rewarded with a lip sync battle between their principal and fourth grade teacher James Richardson after conquering a challenge to read for 100,000 minutes during their school’s annual Reading Week.

The students not only beat the challenge set by their principal, but annihilated it by reading a combined total of 131,000 minutes.

During a celebratory assembly on March 6, Principal Thomas Payton praised the students and engaged in a lip sync battle that had them cheering and hooting as he donned a crown and elaborately performed “Let It Go” from “Frozen” and “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. Richardson further entertained the students with his rendition of “Friend Like Me” from “Aladdin” and, while wearing a grass skirt, a performance of “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana.”

This is not the first time that students at Roanoke have risen to a reading challenge set by Payton. In the past, they have won the chance to throw pies at him, pour ice and slime on him, duct tape him to a wall and shave his head with the word “read” tagged into it.
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