By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
There will likely be snow on the ground this Friday, Jan. 10 when USD 428 kicks off another installment of its Great Bend Reads - GB Reads for short - Initiative. So throw out the dog days of summer but every K-6 student in the district will receive a copy of "Dog Days" by Karen English as part of the initiative. District Public Information Director Andrea Bauer said the popular scavenger hunt returns for a second year.
"To partner with that and get more families involved, we're again doing a community scavenger hunt on Goosechase, which is a mobile app," she said. "Students are going to be with their families, out exploring Great Bend and finding dog bones that have been hidden around."
Last year's book, "The Wild Robot," was turned into a successful motion picture. A 13-foot-tall robot was part of the celebration at the conclusion of last year's initiative. More than 130 families participated in last year's scavenger hunt to find more than a dozen robots created by students in Great Bend High School's manufacturing and woods classes. This year, elementary students decorated the bones to be found.
"We had a really great participation so we felt like we would try it again this year," Bauer said. "It's photo/video/text responses to some scavenger hunt questions and some trivia questions that help get the whole family involved."
GB Reads was started in 2015. USD 428 has eight book buddies business sponsors for the 2025 initiative. The top five points winners from this year's scavenger hunt will win family fun packages.
CLICK HERE for more information on this year's scavenger hunt.