Throwing the books at them

Donations to area school get young students reading

Rowe Elementary School's acquisition of books from the partnership between Reading is Fundamental and the Public Education Foundation's Clark County Reads program has put three books into the hands of each student this year.

A recent large-scale book donation at Rowe on June 23 topped out the number of total books distributed to high needs Clark County schools at more than 70,000 given to 21,000 students. Rowe received 3,310 after three distributions this year.

Beverly Hudson, principal of Rowe Elementary, said faculty members are excited about any initiative that gets children anxious to read. A free book several times a year, a cost that is supplemented by the school and donations on behalf of it, only makes it more fun.

"It was overwhelming the comments of children when they were coming out of their classes to read," she said. "It was a positive educational experience. Parents receive letters inviting them to all activities, and they come here for the activities. It was like a campsite here. It was a totally Rowe community involvement thing."

As Reading Is Fundamental site coordinator, Debra Curras has a big job overseeing the three book distributions each year. Clark County Reads provides 10 percent more books than there are students, which gives kids a chance to choose a book that they like. She decided the best way to reach students with the program was to involve them in the processes.

For each RIF distribution, an entire day filled with reading activities is planned. June 23 offered a Reader's Theater filled with productions that were almost totally organized and performed by student council members at Rowe.

"Reading Is Fundamental asks that we come up with activities that get kids excited about reading," Curras said. "I decided one of the ways to get the kids interested was to ask the student council if they would like to come up with the activities. I asked them before the first donation in the fall of 2003. They very quickly came up with activities, such as poster contests and buddy reading. The students really enjoyed that, so I decided to keep letting them do it."

Student council adviser Elizabeth Pesco said her fifth-grade students gained valuable experience working with administrators and organizing events and activities.

"This is the third year of actually doing student council at Rowe," she said. "They had the influence to make changes, and they were dealing with administration, sharing their ideas. The activities were the direct result of kids. They had that power to make changes. Every student council member got to go back to their grade levels and meet with teachers and classes. The kids are well represented by other students."

The Readers Theater and book distribution day was the culmination of a weeklong series of activities planned and executed by students. Humanities teacher Mary Klekot said students chose a variety of scenes from popular children's books to be performed. Twenty-five third- through fifth- grade students worked either as actors or crew members on the sets.

"Student council came to me in early May with the idea that they wanted to produce readers theater," Klekot said. "We made some selections and came up with three pieces of readers' theater that we would produce. Since we had the time, we decided to take it to a production level of building the sets, and having some costuming to go along with presentation."

The enthusiasm at Rowe is par for the course for RIF programs, according to Beth Sandoz, assistant program manager for Clark County Reads. After each distribution, she receives calls and thank-you letters from students and parents.

"We hear from teachers and even the students tell us how much they love their books," Sandoz said. "One teacher told me her kindergarten class got some books, and in her afternoon class, there is one boy who carries his RIF book around to and from school every single day. These children can't believe we're giving them a book to keep.

"It really shows that the community and school is placing such a high value on reading, and I think children can see how important it is to us. It's such a gift to them. We target tiny and big schools, but at each, the reaction is the same. They clutch those books to their chests and smile really big."


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