North Woods Elementary students in La Crosse read and run to go for a record

On one day a year, millions of students attempt to all the read the same book on the same day to set a world record.

North Woods Elementary in La Crosse has taken part in Read for the Record day for several years. The La Crosse school had over 300 students and staff participate again on Thursday.

North Woods, however, added a physical fitness element to the event.

Teacher Sara De Paolo had kids run an outside course, taking stops to read pages from the chosen book.

“Not all kids enjoy sitting down and just reading a book,” she said, “so it’s another way to get them involved with literature … trying to find a way to just get kids to participate in enjoying reading and understanding that books are important.”

The school installed a permanent “outdoor story walk” near its playground to help put on the event every year.

North Woods students gathered in small groups to read two pages at a time on a stand, and then walked or ran to another stand to see the next two pages.

The story walk feature helps add over 800 additional hours of reading at North Woods each year.

This year’s book being read for a world record was “Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon.”

As they finished the book, the North Woods students reached the end of the trail where a statue of a dragon was on display.