Coronation School

Just Read! is a new reading initiative at Coronation School and throughout the Clearview School Division. It is a partnership between the school, the home and the community to increase students' (and adults') out of school reading of fiction and non-fiction books. How does it work? First, our school sets a goal to increase the number of books students read outside of school. Students keep their own recording form on the number of books read (with some assistance from parents and teachers!). The number of books read are counted on a weekly basis. All students contribute in a school wide cooperative effort to reach individual, class and school goals. Once a goal has been reached, our progress is celebrated to acknowledge class and school accomplishments. This is an important part of the program. We celebrate as a group. It is a cooperative activity. Competition among individual children is detrimental to the goal of the program. Non-readers sense an impossible task of keeping up with expert readers in an individual-based reading program and their reading habits usually decrease. Cooperating with others towards a group goal gives the non-reader an opportunity to contribute and to justifiably celebrate. Both gains realized and goals met may be celebrated. Just Read! is not a competitive program to reward individuals for reading the most books - EVERYONE works together to reach a common goal.

In our elementary school, we are using a "swamp" theme whereby a bull frog jumps from lily pad to lily pad as we accumulate books. Each lily pad represents the number of books we have read per week. A large lily pad records the number of books read in total. This number is then forwarded to the Stettler office to be added to a cumulative total (from other schools) in the Division.

So, how can you help at home? Here are some suggestions: set aside a specific time every evening to read (even Mom and Dad!); visit the library; select a motivating book and read it orally after supper; join a book club; limit TV time and Just Read! instead. All book reading counts - if parents or older siblings read a book aloud to a child - that counts. If you read five great picture books to your kindergarten child in one day, they all count. However, only books count - magazines, comics etc. do not.