Crawfordville Elementary School Shoots for the Sun

Ask any Crawfordville Elementary School student how far the Earth is from the sun and you are very likely to get the correct answer…. 93 million miles. The reason for this scientific prowess has a lot to do with the fact that every student at CES has been traveling in a “reading rocket ship” since the 2009-2010 school year began. Using the Renaissance Learning Accelerated Reader (or AR) program, Crawfordville Elementary School Media Specialist, Cindy Burse, has been tracking the total number of words and books that her students are reading. Each time a student takes and passes an AR test, the computer adds in the total number of words that were contained in that book. Whether they are reading a short picture book, or a long novel, every student can contribute to the total number of words being read at CES by passing the five to ten question AR test on their particular book. At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Burse challenged all students to produce rocket fuel by reading and taking tests on Accelerated Reader books located in the school media center, and throughout the classrooms at CES. The goal of this Reading Space Voyage was for all students to work together to help propel a hypothetical rocket all the way from the Earth to the Sun….93 million miles, or 93 million words read, would complete this voyage.

{sidebar id=1}Each day on the CES Morning News, student journalists give updates on the number of words and books read in this “Shoot for the Sun” contest. Students excitedly enter the Media Center asking, “Where’s our rocket ship, today? How much further do we have to go?” A large table-top display shows a small foam rocket floating somewhere between the Earth and the Sun, as Mrs. Burse says, “See how far you’ve moved us…how many of you have read a good book and taken an AR test on it this week?” Students enthusiastically raise their hands and say, “I did! I did!” Students are even challenging each other to read the same book, asking each other questions, and discussing the characters, setting, problem, and solution of the story to help promote better comprehension of the stories being read. Any challenger who receives an 80% or better on the Accelerated Reader Book Quiz is rewarded with a trip to Mrs. Burse’s prize cauldron.

As a result of the hard work of classroom reading teachers, the “Shoot for the Sun” contest, and reading challenges, Crawfordville Elementary School students are more excited than ever about learning to read. Students have been reading an average of a half million to one million words a day, and are only five million words away from reaching their goal and landing that rocket ship on the sun. Don’t worry, the CES rocket ship has revolutionary new heat shields that can withstand the nearly 10,000 degree surface temperatures of the sun, and an ice-cold popsicle awaits every student who has taken at least one AR test when the ship does make that final landing on the sun. Who knows, with all this reading excitement, the Crawfordville Elementary School Reading Rocket may just have time to turn around and head back to Earth… another 93 million word-miles.

This article originally published on March 21, 2010.

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