The first day of school for 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-graders at PS 30, a UFT Community Learning School in East Harlem, was like no other. The new school year got off to a rousing start with a pizza party, gift books and a guest appearance by 18-year-old TV star Rico Rodriguez of “Modern Family.” The event marked International Literacy Day and the kickoff of the Literacy Project, a 10-year partnership between First Book and Pizza Hut to promote literacy worldwide. UFT President Michael Mulgrew greeted teachers and assured students, “We’re going to start the school year with some fun!” He applauded the new literacy initiative, noting that First Book, working together with the UFT, has already distributed hundreds of thousands of books to New York City schoolchildren of low-income families at marathon giveaways at sites in all five boroughs. Rodriguez explained to the students that to be a TV star you have to be able to read well so that you can read scripts with the words you have to speak on camera. With tummies filled with pizza, the children settled down to an animated reading of “Secret Pizza Party” before they got their own copies of the picture book to devour. And devour them the students did, shutting out the noisy world to concentrate on the raccoon’s wild and crazy adventures planning a secret pizza party. And so 100 students became the first initiates of a project aimed at empowering 100 million readers over the next 10 years.