Potato bar, books attract young readers

There were books for youngsters to take home and a potato bar to feed adults and their children Friday evening during a special event at Asa Wood Elementary School.

It was the third in a series of grade-level open houses held to explain the Reading First program to parents, and teach them how to help reinforce the lessons at home. First-graders and their parents attended last week along with staff members.

Principal Ken Foss said Asa Wood is in the second year of a three-year grant to boost reading skills throughout the school. Ninety-minute sessions of language and reading instruction began last year through a curriculum called Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.

However, Foss said this is the first year an intervention has been added to make sure everyone progresses toward goals that become increasingly more demanding throughout the year.

"Our kids have to learn to read," he said. "It's our responsibility."

Grant money has primarily been used to train staff members in the DIBELS curriculum developed at the University of Oregon. At the first-grade level, it includes work on letter-naming fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency and oral reading skill along with optional work in retelling fluency and word use fluency.

Grants were awarded to districts with low reading scores in the past, Foss said. Twenty-one Montana districts received money.

Foss said it's already made a big difference for Asa Wood students.

"I think right now we have one of the better reading programs around," he said.

Jennifer Hoover, whose daughter Breanna Hoover is a first-grader, agreed with the principal.

"I'm amazed at how well my daughter can read," she said.

Jennifer and Breanna were among dozens of people who settled down with baked potatoes topped with cheese or chili after discussions of the reading program ended.

There were also tables lined with storybooks for children to take home. The books were used at McGrade Elementary School before it closed.

Fourth-graders had a similar open house in January with 60 people turning out, Foss said. A kindergarten session was held in February and drew 200 people.

Second-graders get their turn March 31 with nachos and free books on the menu.