| Contact Us |
|
   |
      
|
|||
 |
 |
|
|
|
Rutherford Elementary in Louisville, Kentucky Rutherford Elementary is one of 36 sites coordinated by Jefferson County Public Schools, which runs a Books for Ownership program serving nearly 5,000 children in grades Pre-K–9. During its sixth year as a RIF program, Rutherford held an adventurous, pirate-themed book distribution that was featured in the local newspaper. Read the article below.
Reading's Arrrright: Rutherford Elementary's pirate theme gets students on board By Sara Cunningham With her first-grade classmates at Rutherford Elementary School, Flor Hernandez listed the qualities required to be a pirate. "Well, the captains don't have very good teeth," Flor, 6, said, adding to a list that included sword fighting skills, no fear of water and the ability to climb nets.
Pushing her paper pirate hat out of her face, Flor smiled and pointed to her missing two front teeth. "I'd be a good captain," she said, laughing. Students at Rutherford, 301 Southland Blvd., celebrated the school's Reading is Fundamental program last week with pirate-themed activities. Reading is Fundamental is a federally funded program that provides free books to students from low-income families. Rutherford students get free books three times a year, said Pam Barker, the school's librarian. Each time, the school picks a different theme to make it fun, she said. Students choose from a variety of books to take home; the free books were not all about pirates, but the school picks a theme to help celebrate. Last year, Barker designed a cardboard pirate ship big enough for students to sit in while they read together. The students enjoyed the pirate theme so much, it warranted a repeat, Barker said. Each teacher could do something different with the theme and the ship last week. Flor's first-grade teacher, Lynda Currington, let her students choose between reading a fiction or a nonfiction book about pirates while they sat in the ship. "I wanted fiction but I asked them and a majority voted for nonfiction," Currington said after she read to her class from a children's reference book on swashbuckling topics. During the exercise, Currington asked her students questions to make sure they were understanding the information. Her students promised that they would try to be "good pirates."
Good or bad pirates didn't matter to Jovani Castillo, 7, when he was asked about why he voted for a nonfiction book. "We wanted to know about real pirates, not fake pirates," he said. Currington said other themes for Reading is Fundamental have included Chinese New Year and American Indians. Regardless of the theme, the book program gives the students something very important, Currington said. "It's the best thing going for us," she said, walking her students back to their non-seafaring classroom. "These books give the students something to take home that's theirs. A big part of reading is the joy of having books in your home." Source: Cunningham, Sara. Reading's Arright. The Courier-Journal, April 7, 2008; photos by Chris Hall. |
|
|
We're here to help!
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
