Students
at Archer Street Microsociety and Multimedia School in the Freeport
School District have truly become bookworms. This year, the school
launched a series of literacy programs to celebrate and promote
the love of reading. The new Archer Street Principal, Paula Lein,
helped implement the programs throughout the school, which have
produced successful results.
"They're great
students now, but the reading programs we have will make them lifelong
readers," said Ms. Lein.
To advocate the
love of reading, Archer Street launched various reading programs
this year, including the Million Minutes of Reading, the Book of
the Month, and the Daily Poetry Minute. Through the Million Minutes
of Reading program, parents commit to reading with their children
seven nights a week and keep a log of their reading time. The total
number of minutes are submitted to the teacher each month, who then
tallies them up. The classes who achieve the most minutes receive
a party, T-shirts, certificates, and books. In addition, a special
leaf is added to the reading tree in the school lobby for every
5,000 minutes read by a class. For the Book of the Month program,
a new book is chosen each month that follows a theme and is given
to each teacher in the building. The book is presented and read
to each of their classes. As part of the Daily Poetry Minute, students
read from either their own works or their favorite poems each morning
on the PA system.
Ms. Lein said much
of the success of the programs is a result of all the support she
has received from the staff. "I came in as a new principal,
and the staff embraced me as their instructional leader and as a
partner in the educational process," she said. "They really
rally behind my ideas and add their own to make this a successful
school year."
The literacy programs
have already delivered positive results. There has been a dramatic
increase in the number of Archer students who passed the fourth
grade
January 2001 New York State English Language tests (ELA). The success
is expected to continue.
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