Yesterday afternoon, the Washington Wizards' Andray Blatche attended Webb/Wheatley Elementary School to teach a group of 5th graders the importance of reading and staying in school. The Wizards Reading Time-Outs are a part of the NBA’s Read to Achieve program, created to get children excited about reading and to promote the value of reading and literacy.

Blatche started off by reading some poetry with the students and with a smile on his face you could see he was definitely enjoying it as much as the children.

"Coming out here was very exciting, I had a good time with the kids, I like working with kids," Blatche said. "I just wanted to come back and tell them how important it is to have an education, that is the biggest thing for them, if you have an education you can be anything you want to be."

As part of the reading time-out the Wizards' forward also autographed pictures for all the students and answered questions. Finally the students received a big surprise, as Andray gave each student 4 tickets to the home opener on November 3rd vs. the Orlando Magic.

Blatche wasn't the only one excited about the event, Principal of Webb/Wheatley Elementary, Donna Edwards, was very grateful to have a Washington Wizard come speak to her students, "Today we were blessed to have Andray Blatche here to speak to our children," Edwards said. "We are very happy to have him because the students really look up to the Wizards, they love the ballplayers and to see someone of that magnitude and to have that person tell you the value of reading is really important for our students."

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