Instead of being outside when the weather is bad, students at Maxwell Elementary School (14390 E. Bolling Dr.) are exercising their brains indoors during Readin’ Recess, just one of the school’s activities helping children reach their million word goal.

Today (November 14) students will bring their Independent Reading Book Bags into the auditorium after lunch, which starts at 11:30 a.m., to have about thirty-minutes of peaceful reading time. Readin' Recess is offered every day. Even when the sun shines, more than a 100 students choose to stay indoors.

“Students are allowed to sit in corners, lounge on the stairs or lay on the carpeted areas of our large auditorium,” said Jana Smith, Maxwell Assistant Principal. “The supervising teacher or paraprofessional has to tell students to stop. Otherwise, they'd continue reading past their designated recess time!”

As the supervising adults walk around monitoring, they too read a book. “The teachers tell us that as soon as their kids get back to class, they are excited to share how many more words they read during that time...working toward that 1,000,000!” added Smith.

As part of the new DPS literacy program, all students are being asked to read one million words a year.