Plains students rewarded for 'I Love to Read' efforts
WINNERS OF bicycles donated by Plains Masons Ponemah Lodge 63 to culminate the I Love to Read program last Friday were, from left, Jordyn Bagacisau, Isabella Chaney, Antoine Schaff and Mackenzie Tulloch. The other winner, Vince Heathers, was not present. In the back row are Plains Masons, from left, Ron Warren, Bill Burrell, Tom Tompkins Sr. and Tom Tompkins Jr. (Joe Sova/Clark Fork Valley Press)
PLAINS SCHOOLS Superintendent Thom Chisholm, an “Indiana Jones” lookalike for the I Love to Read assembly last Friday, was in the school library to purchase books for his grandkids during the Book Fair. Chisholm is pictured with, from left, fifth graders Sarah Anderson, Jamie Christensen, Katelyn Subatch and Araeys King. (Joe Sova/Clark Fork Valley Press)
LEVI WEATHERBY assisted Plains teacher Gena Ferlan with drawings during the I Love to Read assembly in the school gym last Friday. Students whose names were drawn received a new bicycle donated by the Plains Masons Ponemah Lodge 63.
TEAMS OF Plains students and teachers raced to construct a hula hut made of hula hoops during the I Love to Read assembly last Friday in the school gym. Pictured from left are Cage Tuma, “dinosaur” Casey Thompson, Holly Blood, Tia Bellinger and Macey Malmend. Bleachers full of kindergarden- through sixth-grade students are in the background. (Joe Sova photos/Clark Fork Valley Press)
Learning can be a lot of fun — for students, teachers and staff — and it certainly was during the month of February at Plains Schools.
February was “I Love to Read” month, and students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade were challenged to read as many books as they could. They knew from the outset that they could be in the running for special awards and prizes.
An entertaining assembly was held last Friday afternoon to culminate the I Love to Read challenge. The theme for the month was “Dino-Mite Book Fair Stomp, Chomp and Read.” The “dino,” “stomp” and “chomp” words related to dinosaurs, which ruled the earth eons ago.
The book fair ran for three days, last Thursday through Saturday at Plains School.
Title I staff members at Plains School organized the I Love to Read program, with K-6 special education, elementary PE and driver education teacher Gena Ferlan serving as main coordinator.
TOP READERS by class — from kindergarten through sixth grade — were recognized during Friday’s assembly. Awards were based on Accelerated Reader (AR) points accumulated.
Mackenzie Tulloch, a sixth grader, was the top reader overall with 168.3 points. Classmate Layla Harris was the second highest with 135.3 points.
Here are the first- and second-place finishers in grades kindergarten through fifth grade, with their point totals:
Kindergarten — Ryker Anderson and Christian Christianson.
First grade — Lila Holloron, 33.4; Kage Tuma, 25.9.
Second grade — Briauna Kulawinski, 46; Talon Ferlan, 25.3.
Third grade — Mika Schulze, 66; Tia Bellinger, 45.
Fourth grade — Carson Bechtel, 105.1; Marina Tulloch, 53.9.
Fifth grade — Ruthie Uli, 77.5; Macey Malmend, 43.7.
During the active assembly, the top two readers in each class were joined by teachers and “creatures” — teachers dressed as dinosaurs — to complete a puzzle and build a “hula hut” made of hula hoops.
PLAINS SCIENCE teacher Carl Benson had kindergarten- through sixth-grade students’ close attention while he turned two “inactive” volcanoes into ones that spewed molten lava.
To conclude the assembly, names of students were drawn to win a new bicycle. Five students will receive a bike donated by Plains Masons Ponemah Lodge 63.
The bike winners were third graders Jordyn Bagacisau and Isabella Chaney; fourth grader Vince Heathers; fifth grader Antoine Schaff; and sixth grader Mackenzie Tullock. Chaney was the grand prize winner. The bikes were to be picked out by the winners and ordered at Studs True Value Lumber in Plains.
Representing the local Masons were Ron Warren, Bill Burrell, Tom Tompkins Sr. and Tom Tompkins Jr.
Burrell said the Plains Masons donate bicycles for the I Love to Read program every year.
THE FIRST-EVER Family Fun Night in conjunction with I Love to Read was held last week, featuring the construction of dinosaur head pieces. “It was a family function. We had well over 30 families … We want families to read together,” Ferlan said. Eight families each took home a bundle of books.
Students in grades K-6 who accumulated 30 or more AR points had their snapshots on a photo wall, and they received an activity pass and free book at the book fair.
“They had 28 days (Feb. 1-28) to read as much as they can,” Ferlan said of students.
The sixth graders came out on top, amassing 1,777.7 AR points during the promotion..
All students in grades K-2 received a free book from the book fair — no matter how many points they accumulated. Title I staff and elementary teachers decorated the school library for the book fair.
Ferlan pointed out that the Plains School Book Fair Club is self-funded.
Each elementary teacher received $50 to spend at the book fair for books their classrooms.
Lindsey McGee, a teacher of one of the two second grade sections, received an extra $50 to use to buy book fair books.
SPEAKING OF second grade, teachers Meg Feist and McGee went all out for an Iditarod theme last month. That was to commemorate the start of the 47th annual Iditorod Trail Sled Dog race, which is held at the beginning of March each year in Alaska.
Second-grade students were thrilled to be able to see an actual sled dog team in action. That was provided on the last day of February, last Friday, by Plains musher Pat Roy. He told the students all about sleds and the specially-trained dogs who pull them. Two of his dogs — Cricket and Hornet — greeted the second graders in friendly, excited fashion Friday before students were treated to a sled dog ride at the Plains football field.
Second-grade teacher Feist said this was her fourth year where her students met the musher and his dogs, but the first time students got to go on a sled ride — pulled by strong, frisky canines.