Century Elementary

CONGRATULATIONS TO CENTURY ELEMENTARY STUDENTS, PARENTS, AND TEACHERS, FOR  MAKING THE FIRST SPECIAL THINGS FOR SPECIAL KIDS BOOK-BAG PROGRAM A TERRIFIC SUCCESS! EVERYONE IS SPECIAL WITH THIS PROGRAM!

No matter how many volunteers we secure through the club membership, the problems of literacy in our schools would require more.

The Book Bag Project is intended to expand the number of hands-on participants to its most critical group - the parents of the children.

This project is aimed at beginning readers, first and second grades. Canvas carrying bags, with the Special Thing For Special Kids logo on them, contain age appropriate books selected by the reading specialists in the schools.

Feedback from the initial program at Century elementary has come in and the results have surprised even the staff at the school. The participation by parents has been overwhelming and the kids are really into the program.

As of November 22, 2002, 55 first graders and 71 second graders, a total of 126 students, are participating in the Book Bag Program. Each grade level has taken books home 6 weeks thus far, and only 2 books have been lost and not returned.

92% of parents have documented student reading on the the reading log on a consistent basis. This represents approximately 700 contacts with parents so far this school year. Of the 92% of parents who sign the reading logs on a regular basis, 44% of those choose to write specific comments about the books their children are reading. To this date, only 8% of students, (10 to be exact), have returned reading logs without any parent signatures.

Preparations for the program began by organizing more than 500 books and 100 printed canvas bags, purchased by the Smoky Hill Rotary Club. First and second graders take book bags home on alternating weeks, allowing each grade to take the bags home sixteen times a year. Bags are sent home on Thursdays and returned on the following Tuesday, allowing the educational assistant two days to prepare the bags for the next group of students.

Additional materials were also created to support parents as they read with their children, as well as to document their efforts. Support materials include strategy cards to assist students with difficult words and question cards to promote discussion about each book. A reading log for parents to record their reading with their child is also included within each canvas bag. An introductory letter explaining the program with a parent agreement was included within the bag the first time it was sent home.   In addition to explaining the program to parents through the introductory letter sent home with the first book bag, an orientation meeting was held for parents at “Back to School Night”.

At this time, the program was explained in detail to approximately 300 parents and students. All teachers also took the time to explain the program to their students before sending the bags home for the first time.
 

This project goes hand-in-hand with the Literacy Project by providing support to the teachers helping with the training sessions, etc.