More than 500 students participated in Read for the Record, an annual reading event held at Valadez Middle School Academy.

First-graders from Melrose and Rio Vista elementary schools teamed up with eighth-graders from Valadez to participate in the global campaign sponsored by Jumpstart, a national early-education organization. All three are schools in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District.

Schools around the world participate by reading the same book on the same day.

The first-graders partnered with their older “buddies” and read “Not Norman: A Goldfish Story,” written by Kelly Bennett and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Each age group took turns reading and discussing the message of the book.

“The most important thing was for our eighth-grade students to be role models for the first-graders and build a connection,“ said James Hardin, principal at Valadez. “It was pretty special to see those kids connect.”

This year’s eighth-grade participants were the original first-graders when the school district started participating in the Read for the Record program seven years ago.

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