Bookworm Program Motivates Students

Meadow Ridge Elementary School has worms. Well, really just one worm, but it’s so long that its colored body segments are lining hallways, winding around the gym and heading toward the cafeteria.

It keeps growing and growing and growing, and students couldn’t be happier.

The Bookworm Program, which started after students returned from winter break, rewards kids for the amount of time they read each night with a colored circle, about the size of a coffee can lid.

The paper circles represent body segments of the worm. If the worm wraps all the way around the building by the school picnic in June, principal Kelly Shea has promised to take part in something slightly humiliating and very silly. Ideas so far include sitting in a dunk tank or wearing a ballerina costume while being sprayed with whipped cream.

“I’d do anything if it would motivate the kids to read,” Shea said.

So far, Meadow Ridge students are off to a good start. For a little extra credit in math, fourth-graders Amy Pomante and Rebecca Millsap figured out that the bookworm will wriggle over 2,650 feet if it makes it all the way around the building. So far, it’s about 640 feet long.

Parent Kim Chaffin, a member of Meadow Ridge’s council for learning improvement, said the program was set up to motivate kids to read while they establish a more long-term program at the school.

“Getting my son to read has always been like pulling teeth,” she said. “But now he’s doubled his reading time. It’s amazing.”

Second- and third-graders get a circle for every 20 minutes they read each night; fourth- through sixth-graders get one for every 30 minutes. Circles are color-coded by grade. Parents must sign the circle to confirm the reading was actually done.

“We want them to realize reading is fun and to continue developing good reading habits,” Chaffin said.

Spokane Christian Academy re-enacts play

Students at Spokane Christian Academy now know the underground railroad had nothing to do with subterranean boxcars.

Last week, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at the school presented a play about the secret network that helped slaves reach freedom before the Civil War. In a talk-show format, students assumed the identities of important figures like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Dred Scott and Harriet Tubman, and shared their stories and the parts they played in history.

“I didn’t know what the underground railroad was about before this,” said seventh-grader Whitney Madden, who played abolitionist Sojourner Truth. “It was interesting and fun to learn.”

“I liked learning about the people’s lives,” added eighth-grader Tacy Mitchell, who played Susan B. Anthony. “It’s an important time to study because it was one of the worst times our nation’s ever gone through - our nation turned against itself.”

After the play, younger students forded fake rivers, hid in pretend jungles and evaded capture by “slave catchers” to get a taste of what the underground railroad might have been like.

“It was cool to learn about the people who wanted to help the slaves be free,” said eighth-grader Sam Cumpton. “And to learn about how strongly the slaves wanted to be free.”