9-year-old Wylie student reads more than three million words in half a school year and wants to read five million words by the end of the school year
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – A 9-year-old Wylie East Elementary student read more than three million words in just half a school year, something her third-grade reading teacher said she had never seen a student this age do before.
When you walk into the school library, you’ll see lots of different children’s books, but you’ll also most likely see 9-year-old Graham McLean, who has read almost all of them.
This has really helped Graham in his third-grade reading class, where they keep track of how much each student reads. Her teacher, Stephanie Roberts, encourages students to reach one million words by the end of the school year.
“We recognize our one million word readers at the end of the year, which is a stretch for third graders, but Graham is already at three million words,” Roberts said. “When they read, they can understand the world around them. The world is very confusing around them if they cannot understand the words.
Sarah McLean, Graham’s mother, shared that he usually stays up late to add a few more words.
“He stays up later than me,” McLean explained.
His family celebrated that he had reached two million words by throwing a party, but they weren’t sure how quickly another million would come.
“I can read 100 pages in an hour,” Graham explained.
He likes to spend his free time in the library while at school, where he befriended the librarian, Shyrl Martinez.
“He comes every morning and says, ‘I’m done. I need a new book,” Martinez said.
Graham quickly corrected her and said, “It’s not every morning. It’s every three mornings.
The 9-year-old has learned a lot about the library since spending so much time there, and he even sometimes helps Martinez run the circulation desk. He puts away all returned books, knowing exactly where they belong.
Graham will probably stay in this library for a while, because his goal is to read five million words at the end of the school year.
“If I can find more books to read,” Graham said.
He said he might write a book one day, but this 9-year-old boy dreams of becoming an aerospace engineer when he grows up.
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