______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD District students say ‘hello’
At the senior health expo
Gold standard in Project 2025
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VOL. 35 NO. 44
OCTOBER 24 - 30, 2024
$1.00
V.S. 13 hosts ‘Book Tasting’ Want kids to have a healthy appetite for reading? Let them call the shots. Raddice, a reading specialist by trade, pushed forward the Book Tasting event as part of a Children can be fussy eaters, revamped reading and engageso why expect them to behave ment curriculum. Teachers across District 13 differently when it comes to have run with the their choice of idea, infusing a resbooks? That’s the taurant theme idea behind “Book event across their Tastings,” a learnclassrooms, replete ing strategy quickly with a tasting menu gaining steam in of books for stuclassrooms to dents to try. Some improve indepenschools brought in dent reading by tasting score cards maximizing stuof books and laid dents’ freedom of out red and white choice. checkered tableT he premise, cloths. Others, like according to LorJames A. Dever Eleraine Raddice, Dismentary School, trict 13’s assistant hosted a “Read a superintendent for Latte StarBOOKS” curriculum and event where readinstruction, is sim- LORRAINE RADDICE ing and the playple. pretend pleasure of “It’s a literacy assistant sipping on a latte at event where stu- superintendent Starbucks were dents get to sample for curriculum and rolled into one. d i f f e re n t b o o k s, instruction That doesn’t record their mean solely feeding thoughts about the books they read, and talk to kids a literary diet of books that instantly gratify them, Raddice each other,” Raddice said. But its impact is significant: noted. Teachers put a wide “This really puts kids at the selection of books at children’s driver’s seat of their learning fingertips. Presented with a experience,” she said. Continued on pAge 11
By JUAN LASSO
jlasso@liherald.com
T
Holden Leeds/Herald
Mohammed Lachgar, of Mitchell’s Restaurant on Rockaway Avenue, familiarized his clearly undernourished customer with the menu.
Mitchell’s restaurant brings festive fun this Halloween By ANGELINA ZINGARIELLO azingariello@liherald.com
Mitchell’s Restaurant, on Rockaway Avenue, has become a local highlight this Halloween season, attracting attention for its unusually pale and garish-looking greeters: skeletons and one or two witches. Normally known for its classic diner offerings and family-friendly atmosphere, Mitchell’s has a lesser-known reputation for embracing the Halloween spirit in a way that has captured the interest of regulars and newcomers alike for ages. The centerpiece of this year’s decor is an eight-foot-tall skeleton, drawing immediate attention from diners as they walk in. “That was the big wow this year,” restau-
rant manager Vicky Sourgoutsis said. “Everyone loves it. I’ve never seen a big skeleton in any restaurant, so far. I think the community reacted pretty well. When people walk in, everyone’s like ‘Wow, you guys really outdid it this year.’ I’ve seen a few more people come in, especially families, so that’s great.” In addition to the large skeleton, the restaurant is filled with a variety of decorations, including skeletons seated at tables set with candles, black roses, and spider webs. There are also two talking witches with light-up eyes and voice-activated movements. Make no bones about it: the overall décor is designed to be fun rather than frightening, to make the space enjoyable for visiContinued on pAge 10
here’s a lot of research that suggests that when we do give kids choice, it really motivates them to want to do more.