Successful valley readers celebrate

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

The party stretched into the night for elementary school students in Saratoga who were celebrating their third quarter reading success.

Out of 140 kids, 107 first- through sixth-grade students were eligible to partake in the festivities, which turned the elementary school into fairgrounds two weeks ago.

Giant, inflatable slides brushed the ceiling of the gym, according to Saratoga Elementary School Librarian Ceile Fisher. A life-sized table soccer game stretched across a third of the gym floor, allowing kids to strap in and compete.

They bounced on an inflatable trampoline and tried to dunk a basketball against the pull of an elastic harness. They played table tennis in classrooms, danced in the cafeteria and challenged each other to shuffleboard and bowling. Two groups visited the town’s hot pool.

All this happened after a hearty sloppy Joe dinner.

That night, the kids settled in to watch “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” but Fisher said it ended at about 11 p.m., an hour short of closing time.

“It was like six in the evening again,” she said of the kids who got their second wind.

The school uses a reading program known as Accelerated Reader, which asks students to set and meet reading goals throughout the year. Each book in the program — about 100,000 total — has an assigned point value based on length and reading difficulty. Each also has a test that assesses the students’ reading comprehension. The test scores determine how many points a student earns toward their goal.

An average picture book for first- through third-grade students is worth about a half of a point. A chapter book like those in the “Harry Potter” series are worth about 25 points, Fisher said.
Goals are set based on the child’s grade level, reading ability and allotted time for reading at school and at home.

“It’s really fun. The kids love it,” Fisher said.

The reading program has been used for about 10 years, but only recently have the celebrations become so elaborate, Fisher said. Previous events have included a sleep over, a beach day with beach games and stories, and outings such as bowling, sledding and cross-country skiing.

If students meet half of their fourth-quarter goal by mid-May, they have the chance to throw a whipped cream pie in Principal Dave Rangitsch’s face. They get more pies — up to five — for every five points above the halfway mark.

For students who fully meet their year-end goal, they should be rewarded in late May with a lunch at Saratoga’s Hotel Wolf and a root beer float party with dancing.