East Clark 8th Graders to read one thousand books
East Clark has the most amazing students! The eighth graders have set out to read more than 1,000 books this year. Each student is going to try to meet the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's Standard of reading at least 25 chapter books before the end of this school year.
Our global economy requires today's youth to have more advanced literacy skills than what was required of any other generation. Literacy is essential to success in high school, college, and beyond. Books take our students out of their community and into the world. Books introduce our students to new people, new places, and new ideas.
To meet our goal of reading 1,000 books this year, students utilize both the East Clark school library and the Collinwood branch of the Cleveland Public Library. Students walk with their teacher(s) to the public library every three weeks to check out books. Students spend about an hour at the library selecting books and sometimes getting a computer lesson in the teen center. The librarians warmly welcome our students and their quiet chatter as they eagerly select books to check out and read. Some students seem to be in competition with each other, checking out huge stacks of thick books.
We are using the Accelerated Reader program to track our progress. Upon completion of a book, students take a short, computerized assessment. Students who pass the AR test get credit for reading the book. Students who do not pass the AR test do not get credit. With the Accelerated Reader program, students must read every page of every chapter to prepare for these challenging tests.
Some students are reading like crazy and completing more than one book per week, many are right on target, and a few others are lagging behind. We can use your help! Letters of praise and encouragement or a tax-deductible donation toward a year-end, overnight trip to reward the students who read the most this year would be greatly appreciated.No letter would be too short and no donation too small.
The teachers at East Clark are committed to educating Collinwood's leaders of tomorrow by having high expectations for all students today. If you would like to help us achieve our goal of reading more than 1,000 books this school year, please contact Ms. Peterlin at East Clark. Together we can make a difference--one child at a time!
East Clark's Eighth Grade Core Team
Ms. Peterlin, Ms. Hanford-Galippo, & Ms. Robb