STUDENTS ATTEMPT WORLD RECORD WHILE READING “CHARLOTTE’S WEB”

 While it started innocently enough, the idea grew into worldwide fever. At noon on December 13^th, the students from Gainfield Elementary School in Southbury joined the over 540,000 people from around the globe as they read a selection from “Charlotte’s Web.”

A few teachers at Gainfield Elementary School, including media specialist Heather Messina, and fourth-grade teacher Annie Smith were talking about 2006 being the 55^th anniversary of the publishing of a favorite children’s book.

Mrs. Smith researched information on the Internet about “Charlotte’s Web”, the popular book by E. B. White. During her search, she learned that children from across the United States and the world were going to simultaneously read the same passage from the story in order to try to break a Guinness World Record for “Most People Reading Aloud Simultaneously in Multiple Locations.”

While the final tally has not yet been validated, early reports say that 547,826 readers in 2,451 locations, 50 states, and 28 countries, gathered together to read a number of paragraphs from “Charlotte’s Web.” Results won’t be certified until March 2007.

The current Guinness World Record for the most people reading aloud simultaneously in multiple locations was set two years ago. In 2004, 155,528 students from 737 schools in the United Kingdom set the record by reading William Wordsworth’s poem “Daffodils.”

Each participating school had to have video and still photos, the name and signature of every participant, independent witnesses and notarized forms certifying they saw the record-breaking action, and a defined witness-to-participant ratio.

“The Guinness Book of World Records is very popular with our students, so they were excited about the prospect of breaking a record and ‘making the book.’ I had to tell them that even if we helped break the record and it made it into the book, it would not list our school as there are so many other schools involved.  But they will always know that they were one of the over 500,000 people involved,” said Mrs. Heather Messina.

"The students were very excited as well as a little anxious...especially our younger readers, as the passage was challenging.  They had a chance to practice with their class beforehand and everyone did fantastic.

Our teachers acted as witnesses to make sure that every child was reading out loud, and I’d like to thank Mr. Paul Palmer (Selectman of Southbury) and Mrs. Catherine Palmer (Chairman of Southbury Historical Society) who served as our independent witnesses,” said Mrs. Messina.