Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 7 November 1996 — Page 23

The Muncie Times, November 7,1996, Page 23

Washington-Carver students take reading home Bv Pat Huehes often rontinneH from nne i: -.i . , . • ?■

and read it to their parents. “It is a way of involving parents in their child’s work,” said Ruth Jones, a learning

ments. Jones and Webster were The new reading program with students in grades four and also involved in the meetings, replaces the reading tutors, who five during the children’s Webster said the planning formerly worked with those language arts instruction. In the meetings were very in-depth students who needed additional afternoon, the reading teachers

help with reading. work with smaller groups of Webster said an advantage children who need additional

to the new program was that all help with reading,

students were now receiving Jones said the reading proadditional help with reading, gram was individually paced

not just a few. for each child.

“Now everybody is getting “The reading teachers listen

and that a lot of time went into researching various areas, such as test scores, attendance

By Pat Hughes often continued from one day Students at Washington- to the next. The students take Carver Elementary School are home a story four nights a

finding out this year that learn- week,

ing doesn’t necessarily stop at “I have had children sneak 2:30 p.m., when school lets out to read the next one,” she said, for the day. She said children who bring

As part of a newly-imple- back their stories signed each records and parental involvemented reading program this day are rewarded each month, ment over the last 3 years,

year, students are being asked “If they don’t do it, then to take home a story each night there are consequences,”

Webster said.

Children, Jones said, are learning responsibility from the program. They seem to be

disabilities specialist at the taking reading a little more said. “The focus of this year’s school. seriously, she said. plan has been reading.” “The stories are very struc- The program was imple- The school in turn hired four tured, very interesting,” added mented following months of reading teachers with federal

Barbara Webster, a language research and planning by the monies received from Chapter o pathologist who also works school’s Academic Improve- I funds. The program will be through three receive 1 hour of with students. ment Committee. That evaluated in the spring, uninterrupted time each day The women said response to committee was made up of Students will be given achieve- devoted to reading, the program had been “over- representatives from each ment tests to determine the “There are no interruptions

whelming.” grade, as well as the art and learning level of the school as

Committee members also went to workshops and conferences

on different subjects.

“The research indicated we needed to take a look at how we’re doing things,” Jones

extra help,” added Jones. “It’s

wonderful.”

With four teachers focusing on reading, the school has been able to reduce the number of students in each group, thereby giving children more indivi-

dual attention.

Children in grades one

to the children read, and can gauge when to move on to the

next story,” she said. continued page 24

at all,” Webster said.

Jones noted that the stories physical education depart- a whole.

The reading teachers work

Greg Wessel

Uniforms catch on at Garfield Elementary

By Pat Hughes Carolyn Bames believes it is sometimes difficult today to instill in children values that place material goods near the bottom rung. “I think we’re living in a society today where you want to be identified,” speaking of the importance often placed on clothing and shoes. She noted that those children who did not go to school wearing name-brand clothing

Carolyn Barnes

and $90 gym shoes often were looked upon less favorably than those who had the stylish clothing. She said she always tried to" teach her five children that there were other things more important—such as honesty and integrity—than clothes. But she admitted it often was hard when everything and everybody seemed to place more value on the clothes a person wore than what was inside the person’s head. “Our values are screwed up,” Bames said. This is one of the reasons why Bames was so pleased to learn last year that Garfield Elementary School officials wanted to implement a dress code, for the first time, this year where all the students wore similar clothing. Under the Dress for Suc-

cess program, students would wear dark pants or skirts and white shirts or tops. “I thought it was a great idea,” Bames said. “Dressing one way helps pull everybody together. It can create a kind of unity between the students.” And, she said, it would fielp keep children’s minds off things that were really not that important. “It would be really good to get their minds focused in another direction and to think about what they are there for—the learning,” Barnes said. Ermalene Faulkner, principal of Garfield, agreed. Faulkner said research on the subject had found that uniformity in clothing curtailed the stigmatism of money. She added that in larger cities, dressing alike seemed to

dispel gang activity, noting that the style of dress was a way of identifying those who were in a particular gang. Dressing for Success, Faulkner said, results in less pressure on the students as well as the parent. Parents are finding that it is much less expensive to have two or three similar school outfits for their children than buying the name-brand clothing. Students at Garfield are not required to wear the recommended clothing. But Faulkner said students were urged to do so and that those who did received verbal recognition as well as treats and rewards. Faulkner said the idea of Dressing For Success was slowly catching on. “It’s going to take some time,” she admitted. “It’s an infiltration of an idea.”

She was glad to report that no parents had complained about the new program. And that many were finding it was a lot less expensive. Some days there might be 50 students like what she terms “professional students,” and on other days, there might be 100 students who chose to dress alike. “It’s a totally positive thing,” she said.

Ermalene Faulkner