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Prince William EA Boosts Reading Program

At Belmont Elementary School Wednesday morning, several dozen students jumped off their school buses, stowed their backpacks, and got right to work flipping down the grade K-2 corridor.

Flipping books, that is.

Students in grades K-2 participate in Belmont's new "Take Home Reading Program" that's had students read a total of 26,944 books since it launched last fall. Every morning, students start their day by browsing colorful bins of short, developmentally appropriate books and choosing one or more to take home. The next day, they'll "flip" those books for new ones.

The Prince William Education Association has given the program a big boost, says PWEA member Michelle Dunphy, an instructional consultant and team facilitator at the school. The Association donated scores of books, as well as bins to hold them and storage bags for kids to transport the books home and back to school. "Once we started this, the books started coming out of the woodwork," Dunphy says.

Fifty-four percent of Belmont students are on free- or reduced lunch, and about one-half are Hispanic, says Principal Bridget Outlaw. In many homes, English is not the first language. So the Take Home Reading Program guarantees that students in the target grades will have a regular and rotating supply of books. The program also ensures that students will regularly read to their parents.

Students who fail to read and "flip" their books aren't off the hook, though. Kids who don't come back with a parent-signed reading log each day are turned over to a "book buddy," an older student who coaches them as they complete their reading assignment. When VEA News visited Belmont, Carley, a fifth grader, was listening attentively as first grader Jover read "A New House for Mole and Mouse." When Jover paused or stumbled on a word, Carley urged him to "sound it out."

The program's helped boost enthusiasm for reading-and resulted in higher reading achievement. At last check, 88 percent of first graders had  already reached their year-end reading benchmark. The most exciting thing about the program? "Seeing the kids excited about reading, and seeing their reading growth," says Angela Yee, a Title I reading teacher.

To learn more about the great things going on in the Prince William Education Association, talk to your school's Association rep, call 703-361-3220, or go to http://www.pweaveanea.org/ .

Photos: At left, Austin Vallejos chooses his book. At right, Michelle Dunphy and Angela Yee are among the PWEA members helping to raise reading achievement at Belmont. Below, Nina Connolly-Limbach picks a winner.