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Show lo mi ostsi o ltd f '" "": t -- ' .... -.J- '1. - .. I1 '" "-- hi ..inmiupii 7 iiji i. U..UIHII f'V b'k -n f If - Ik r L J ffl rilMQ q 0 m Orchard Klementary Reflections awards for choreography dance (IAD: K mi lee Dyer, Kaillee Manuell, (abs. Sydney Sorensen ). I ' f . ..: - -i- Tr- - . I S Orchard Elementary Reflections awards for visual arts Front row (L-R): Stephanie Sorensen, Megan Smith, Holly Hi -oadbcnt, Jordan Washburn, Chad Sorensen. Back row (L-R): (L-R): Amy Earl, Claire Thorley, DannyQuilter, Savannah Scliars, (abs. Lauren Illes, Rhett Nelson). Northridge Home Reading Program gives students liy Putrii-ia Knoell Times Hewrter When a child fjoes to a library, l- il ;i schiMil or city facility, lie or she tends to check out books based on interest, rather than roinpreheiision, level. "That's just what happens," Carrie Alldredtfe, first grade teacher' at Northridge Klementary, Klemen-tary, said. "When kids go to a hbr..ry. they tend to check things out based on interest. Like, if they see a cover with dinosaurs on it. they'll get it because they like dinosaurs. It might be way too hard for them, but that was still their choice." That was the dilemma facing parents at Northridge Klementary. Klemen-tary. Tune and again, they were -eeing their children come home from school with books they couldn't read and that they had a hard time comprehending, even if it was read to them. This was a particularly frustrating frus-trating thing for Laurie Alder, who lives basically on the border bor-der of Orem and Lindon and Bonneville Elementary School Reflections Awards winners Front row (left to right): Jonathan Gardner (visual art), Sarah Scott (dance), Alexander Oldroyd (literature); Lindsey Bryant (dance), Kristine Webb (literature); Kristine Wheel-house Wheel-house (literature); Arielle Wing (visual art), Tanner Brown (photography); Terra Hawkins (music), McKenzie Adams (visual art). Back row: Tyson Awerkamp (music); Michael Misback (music); Christian Bennion (music); Cassie Lindsay (visual arts); Lacee Brown (photography, (photogra-phy, danceM Dana Oldroyd (dance, photography); Natasha Hoffman (literature). Not pictured: pic-tured: Chanae Cottrell (visual arts); Caitlin McEwen (dance), Lynley Jensen (photography); (photogra-phy); Lauren Tyler (literature). ... whose children had attended both Lindon and Rocky Mountain Moun-tain elementary schools before going to Northridge. "At the Lindon schools, they had a reading program where children would he able to bring home books that were just on their level," she said. "The schools had small libraries set up and the children brought home the books that were right for them every night." Alder wanted to see a similar program at Northridge, but was a bit timid when it came to suggesting sug-gesting it, because she felt she and her family were too new to the school. However, when someone else came up with the idea no one can remember quite who it was she jumped at the chance to help make it a reality. So, in 199!), the Northridge Home Reading Program was born. That first year, it was confined to just first graders, as the PTA got together enough money to buy some beginning level books. . 1 SA Orchard Elementary Reflections awards for musical composition com-position (L-R): Trevor Boulter, Shanon Reynolds, Tyler Boulter, Kyle Turner, Stacie Fleischer. 0 w r a T. LA. sii j Orchard Elementary Reflections awards for photography Front row (L-R): Stephanie Sorensen, Janette Bowns, Nicholas Sorensen, Andrew Bowns, Benjamin Swenson. Back row (L-R): Leslie Law, McKenna Matson, Kaitlyn Swenson (abs. Taylor White, Haley Crabb) This yearwith the help of money from the school trust lands, that was granted through the Utah Legislature, enough books have been purchased to include the entire second and third grades and some fourth graders. By January, when they have learned to read, it will include in-clude the kindergartens and it is hoped that all grades will be included by next year. "The grant we got this year was enough to get the kindergarten kinder-garten through third grades up and running," Northridge principal prin-cipal Melinda Looman said. "It took about $16,000 all together and the grant was for $9000. We really thank the legislature for making this money available." The home reading program is a smooth blending of parent volunteer vol-unteer work, administrative support and teacher help. "We couldn't do it without the parent volunteers," Alder said. "We have about 35 of them who come in at various times, when their children are in core classes, and trade new books for the ones or News and information from local schools and colleges fills a ft-' rA! il t the students bring back." The library jsjsej. up scythat.,,, students and teachers really,, never have to spend any school time getting the books. Each core class teacher tests students to determine reading levels. Based on the results of the tests, the teachers recommend recom-mend a starting place for each student. The library is set up so that books are grouped according accord-ing to levels determined on a national, state, district and school plane. Each level has a color and a letter assigned and colors are repeated often so that if a child has a book marked with a specific color, other student's can't tell just by looking at it on what level that child is reading. read-ing. "It helps prevent teasing and such that you can't really tell the level just by looking at the marking on the book," Alder said. Once a student's level is determined, de-termined, a kit is set up that includes a list of books in the library, grouped according to level, a plastic bag large enough to hold the one of the books and a book. The students bring their books back at the beginning of their core class period, volunteers volun-teers mark off the title the student stu-dent has read and put the next book on the list in that level into the bag for the student to pick up at the end of core class. As a student passes to the next level, he or she gets a certificate cer-tificate and begins getting books on the next tier. There is one exception to the rule of students having the next book selected for them. The top level readers are given a list of books and a synopsis of the plots of the books, then asked to mark the next book they'd like to read. But for the younger ones, the surprise is half the fun. "The kids love getting a surprise sur-prise each time they come to pick up a book," Alldredge said. "It has really helped the literacy level in my class because they are getting books they can read and they are reading them." Not only are the students reading, they are displaying a lot of responsibility as well. Alldredge said that 90 percent of her students return books for trade as soon as they finish the thus d Orchard Elementary Reflection awards for filmvideo Front row (L-R): Jarehl Dyer, Andrew Bowns, Janetter Bowns, Alexandra Salois, Rebecca Bowns. Back row: (L-R) Ben Quilter, Zachary Blackham, (abs. Bryn Farnsworth). Si - 1 hiwtommmHmrmm'l funiini iti-THrinm inn hi J jnaiiirrTWiTlirwiiii Orchard Elementary Reflections awards for literature Front row (L-R): Stephanie Sorensen, Andrew Earl, Andrew Bowns, Aaron Webber, Rebecca Bowns. Back row (L-R): Amanda Bench, Lauren Craig, Janette Bowns, Jacob Green wood, Alexandra Reneer, Kelsey Carlson. the right books -J I ' - i '' Michael Alder, Nathan Alder, Amy Alder and Logan Barney are excited to have the chance to read books that are just suited to their reading levels as they take part in the Northridge Home Reading Program. last one. The library has a mixture of fiction and non fiction books, and students are expected to read both types in equal numbers. Come take a ride on a Christmas Cruise Come enjoy a lighted riverboat ride on the lower Provo River. It is like a hayride, but a boatride. There are thousands of lights reflecting off the water, with Christmas scenes along the shore, and Christmas music on the boat. Last year we had close to 3,000 people come to the Christmas Cruise during the month of December. Our new, professional excursion boat can accommodate 40 people per ride. Bring blankets and plenty of warm clothes. The ride is a round trip experience expe-rience that takes 25 minutes, with departures every hour and half-hour from 6-10 p.m. The boarding location is at CLAS Ropes Course, 3606 W. Center, Provo, 373-8897. The price is $12.00 per family or $4.00 per person. The Christmas Cruise is cpen daily December 1st to December De-cember 30th. They are closed Sundays and Christmas Day. Page 4 Times Newspaper Wednesday, December 6, 2000 toimm - - tk "Dr. Looman really emphasizes empha-sizes the need to read both fiction fic-tion and nonfiction," Alder said. One of the main attractions of the home reading program is the unique nature of the books , found in the small library. "We try to buy books that aren't in use in the classrooms and may not be available in other libraries," Looman said. "There are many books here that they can only get if they're in this program. It's a neat opportunity op-portunity for kids to get hooks they can read." While the program is flourishing flourish-ing now, it will continue to need more money and volunteer help to keep going. Anyone who would like to donate to help is encouraged to do so by making a check out to the Alpine Foundation, Foun-dation, Northridge Home Reading. Read-ing. John Le Carre Is the pen name of David John Moor Ccrnwell. j y.lll IMj.M is |