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Last updated on Monday, April 23, 2012
(WASHINGTON) - After a challenge early last October, made by Barr-Reeve Elementary Principal Linda Parsons and the Parent-Teacher Organization, the Barr-Reeve School Board learned Thursday evening that B-R elementary students had met their goal of reading for 1 million minutes by the end of this school year.
B-R Reading Team chairperson Kerri Boyd gave board members a report showing 1,268,247 minutes - more than 21,100 hours - so far for students in kindergarten to sixth grade.
Melody Brunson, of Washington Times-Herald, reports all students were provided with monthly reading logs, and the results were reported by classroom teachers and on school bulletin boards. The PTO supported the project with prizes for top readers and top classrooms.
Kindergartners and first-graders were asked to read outside of school an extra 10 minutes a day, second- and third-graders for 15 minutes, and fourth- to sixth-graders, an extra 20 minutes a day. The PTO offered two big prizes for a special reading challenge over Christmas break. It also hosted Camp Read-A-Lot for kindergarten to third grade on a wintertime Friday night, when 110 students received a free book, were read to by guest readers, had quiet reading time in their "camps," played games, created crafts and won prizes.
A celebration for the students is planned for May 15, with the PTO buying T-shirts for students and staff, plus other donated prizes.
B-R Superintendent Travis Madison thanked parents for making the project a success.
"We are blessed with great students and great parents, whether it's Camp Read-A-Lot, sports or whatever," Madison said.
Madison said the new third-grade IREAD-3 scores will be made public next month, but school officials had hoped the Million Minute Reading Challenge would be a help for students in passing the newly-required state reading test. IREAD-3 is a mandatory assessment test taken by Indiana third-graders in March that ensures students can read proficiently before moving on to grade four.
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