Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
Why Bordewich-Bray's principal and vice principal were dressed as Sherlock Holmes-style detectives Monday was really no mystery at all.
"It's nice for us to be able to have some fun with the kids," Principal Valerie Dockery said. "State testing is over and we still need to focus on academics, but we can have some fun along the way."
In keeping with the school's long-standing tradition of administrators dressing up for reading week, Dockery and Vice Principal Casey Gilles donned trench coats and magnifying glasses for this year's theme: Discover the Mysteries of the World " Read.
They completed the look with plastic glasses with attached nose and mustache.
"If you're going to look stupid you might as well go all the way," Gilles said.
The crime-solving duo visited classrooms during the day, ransacking the students' desks looking for clues.
"They were all in our desks and they were grabbing everything," said Hector Perez, 10. "It was funny because they had mustaches."
They then read a mystery the students had to solve.
"It was about the Civil War and a sword," Geraet Rauh, 10, explained. "You really had to listen to the story to get the answer from it. The sword turned out to be a fake because the times didn't match."
It was one of many mysteries the students will be solving this week. Each day, the school's mascot, Gracie the Dolphin, will be in a foreign land. Students will be given clues to figure out where.
From Monday's clues " The name of this island does not match its terrain, permanent ice covers 80 percent of it and it's the largest island in the world " students determined Gracie's location to be Greenland.
The first clue tipped off 10-year-old Joshua Sandoval.
"It says that it's green, but it's icy," he explained.
Reading coordinator Denise Holderman said the week will promote reading, but also incorporate other subjects like social studies. A wall in the foyer is covered with pictures of animals and sights from across the globe.
"It's a good opportunity for kids to see what's out there in the world," she said.
And solving the mysteries, Dockery said, takes them beyond simple reading.
"It's a higher level of thinking," she said. "They have to take the information they've read and then try to solve the problem. It promotes not just reading but comprehension."
A night of mystery solving was held Monday evening and will be followed by more mysteries throughout the week. A drawing will be held at the end of the week from the submissions to guess Gracie's whereabouts. The winner will get to take home a stuffed version of the school's mascot.
- Contact reporter Teri Vance at tvance@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1272.