The students at BCLUW Middle School achieved something on May 22 that has never been done before at the school.
A hundred percent of the student body met their independent reading goals in the Reading Counts program. As part of the reading curriculum at BCLUW Middle School, all students participate in the Scholastic Reading Counts program.
This program helps students develop good daily reading habits and learn to set goals. All students have a 50 point reading goal each quarter and independently read books of their choice at school and at home to reach that goal. The students choose from thousands of titles at every grade level. After a book has been read, the student takes a Reading Counts quiz on a school computer to test his/her understanding of the book. A 8 out of 10 multiple choice questions must be answered correctly on the quiz to receive credit for reading the book. The student then receives points for each book read based on it's length and level of difficulty.
The entire student body at BCLUW Middle School met their reading goal for the 2013-14 school year. A special assembly was held May 28 to recognize these student’s record setting accomplishments.
At the end of each quarter, the students are awarded a bronze certificate for reaching his/her goal of 50 points, a silver certificate for earning 75 points, or a gold certificate for earning 100 points. A platinum certificate will also be awarded if the student reads books which had an average level of difficulty at his/her comprehension range. The certificates are awarded at a school-wide assembly at the end of each quarter.
A final awards assembly for the year was held at the middle school on May 28. At the assembly it was noted that the middle school students read and passed quizzes on 7,741 books and earned a total of 48,384 points during the 2013-2014 school year. The students finished the year strong with 100 percent of the students in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes meeting or exceeding their reading goals for the fourth quarter. Middle school principal Dirk Borgman and all the teachers were very pleased to have all four grades make it to 100 percent during the last quarter of the year.
There was also one student from each grade recognized for earning the most points for the year. Nick Swanson in fifth grade earned 526 points. Alexandra Ford in sixth grade earned 620 points. Paige Jacobson in seventh grade earned 1,030 points. Lauren Mosher in eighth grade earned 1,003 points.
As demonstrated this year, the students at BCLUW Middle School have met the challenge set before them by their reading teachers and have proven that reading really does count at their school.