Published: May 19, 2008 10:22 am      

Waltonville student challenges herself with reading goal

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

WALTONVILLE —At the beginning of the school year, Waltonville eighth-grader Shelby Patterson set a goal: to earn 1,000 Accelerated Reader points for the year. Not only did she meet her goal, she surpassed it, earning 1,034.9 AR points — the equivalent of 120 books.

The AR program is a reading software program offered to participating schools through Renaissance Learning. Students choose a book to read at their appropriate reading level and read at their own pace. Once they are finished with the book, students take a quiz. Results of the quiz help teachers motivate and monitor students’ reading and vocabulary growth and comprehension.

Waltonville Grade School has only recently received access to quizzes online — Renaissance Learning offers more than 120,000 quizzes — and as a result, the school has offered new incentives this year to get students to read. According to Principal Shlonda Horton, students who participate in the AR program and earn 25 points would win a soda; at 50 points, they would receive a free book; at 75 points, they receive a $10 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble bookstore; and at 100, it’s lunch with the principal.

Patterson has been to lunch with Horton every month of the school year.

“Shelby started the year with a goal, and it was to reach 1,000 AR points. She is the type that when she sets a goal, she’ll do everything in her power to reach that goal,” Horton said. “Every time you saw her, she had a book with her — in the lunch line or the playground. She has actually inspired several of the younger children in the AR program.”

“I just love reading,” Patterson said. “It’s fun. I can see myself in some of these characters, and it’s fun to see what happens to them.” She added one of her favorite books is “Dr. Franklin’s Island,” a story about kids who are the only survivors of a plane crash and find themselves on a deserted island with an evil scientist who tries to turn them into animals.

Teacher Susan Gajewski boasted that Patterson’s accomplishment of more than 1,000 points reflected that she read about 1,944,794 words in the AR program. “I’m so impressed and proud of Shelby for setting 1,000 as her goal at the beginning of the year and work so hard to achieve it.” In celebration of her milestone, Patterson had lunch with Gajewski at Lone Star restaurant last week.

“She’s been an inspiration,” added Horton. “I’m taking 17 students on Monday [today] to lunch.”

Superintendent Craig Kujawa said the AR program was very important to schools. “One of the biggest attributes is instilling the value of being a lifelong reader into children ... which enhances levels of reading comprehension,” he said.

“[Reading] helps them in every subject. It’s the foundation of learning,” Horton said.