Hercules Parents, Teachers Get Creative to Keep Kids Reading

Some do it for the prizes. Others, the parties. More than a few have a genuine interest in the stories, while others still want to improve their aptitude for school.

Regardless of the reasons, this much is certain: elementary school students in Hercules are reading outside of class, quite frequently, to the delight of Parent Teacher Associations at and elementary schools, which have developed several initiatives to foster and encourage the hobby.

“The students find reading fun and the goal is to motivate children to read and to keep them reading,” said Raquel Hussey, who runs the Reading Incentive Program at Ohlone with her husband Henry. “We try to get a wide variety of books for them to choose from to grab their attention.”

The year-long program is divided into trimesters and requires participants to keep track of the number of pages they read. Each grade has a specific goal, and students who meet their goals are awarded Scholastic books purchased by the school’s PTA.

On December 7, Lupine Hills will combine an evening of family reading with a Scholastic book fair. Students will have story time from 6-8 p.m. in which they’ll play games and listen to principal Cynthia Taylor read holiday-themed stories, before moving over to the Scholastic bookmobile to purchase books of their choice.

“We’ve got a great lineup this year,” said Lupine Hills PTA president Norma Namuche. “The theme is snow and the kids will come in their pajamas and do circle time with the principal reading. We’re really looking forward to more bonding socially outside of school and at the same time having parents attend so we can all meet people. It’s important to try to stay connected.”

Refreshments will be served in the form of milk and cookies, while one of the evening’s highlights is sure to be a game in which the children are separated into groups to build a Frosty The Snowman out of toilet paper. The winner will be rewarded with a Leapster, an electronic game console in which cartridges of different stories can be loaded.

Students will also be awarded a ticket upon admission, and a raffle will be held in which the winner will earn “book bucks”, Lupine Hills PTA funds that can be used towards the purchase of Scholastic books.

“We did this last year and the children loved it,” Namuche said. “We’re trying to encourage reading and bonding.”

There are also numerous opportunities for students to earn awards with Ohlone’s Reading Incentive Program. In addition to students being rewarded for completing their goals, there are also rewards for the class with the most pages read (Ohlone has three of each grade from kindergarten to fifth grade, but only two third grade classes), as well as specific awards for the student who has the most pages read in each class.

Prizes generally take the form of school supplies and books, while the real fun gets going during the end of the year party in late May, in which a number of local businesses donate prizes and gift certificates that are awarded to those who meet their goals for the year.

Last year, the Reading Incentive Program received prizes and donations from Round Table in Hercules, Cinemark at Richmond’s Hilltop Mall, and Philly Cheesesteak in Pinole.

Program attendance is up to 53 percent this year, an improvement from last year’s 45 percent. With 211 of the school’s approximately 400 students enrolled in the program, the goal is to try to reach a million pages read.

Last year, students at Ohlone read 885,000 pages.

“It’s fun to watch the kids after they reach their goal and then come in and pick their book out,” Hussey said. “Last year our end of the year party got a great response from teachers and students both.”