Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN1

Reading Promotion Plan

Erin King and Kristan Price
Georgia Southern University

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN2

Section I: Goals
According to the American Association of School Librarians (2009), reading is a core
skill for learning, personal growth, and enjoyment. Plus, the ability to read material in any format
is a key indicator of success in school and life. Since the mission of SCPS is to plant the seeds to
grow successful graduates, it is imperative that the school have a vibrant and engaging reading
development program that challenges students to better themselves and cultivate their own
personal reading interests. The goal of this reading promotion plan is to take the current
Accelerated Reading program to the next level. As a result, this program will encourage new
readers to read more and be evaluated on their comprehension. According to Moyer & Williams
(2011), by using STAR Reading and customizing Accelerated Reader, students are active
participants in their own learning. The AR program allows students to be part of the reading
instruction process and be engaged in the planning and reflection of their growth as readers.
According to Solley (2011), AR is a research-supported, effective tool for strengthening reading
comprehension and motivating students. In line with Common Core standards and the goals of
the school, expanding the current reading development program is critical to developing
successful future graduates. The target population will be the entire school since participation in
the program is not yet at 100% and the entire school is just learning to read.

Section II: School Profile--Context and Population

Sumter County Primary School (SCPS) is a first through second grade campus located in
Americus, GA. Americus is the largest city in the county and is 135 miles south of Atlanta and
about a 10 minute drive from Plains, GA, the home of former President Jimmy Carter. SCPS is

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN3

the only public school in Sumter County serving those specific grade levels. Sumter County is
mostly rural and has about 32,500 citizens. The demographics of Sumter County are as follows:
51% black, 43% white, 5 % Hispanic, and 1% other. The Sumter County School (SCS) system
serves about 4,800 students while the local private school serves about 740 students. The
demographics of SCPS are as follows: 64% black, 21% white, 12% Hispanic, and 3% other.
Roughly 14% of the SCPS student population receives Special Education services. All students
within the SCS system receive free breakfast and lunch. They are also all Title 1 schools. The
demographics of the local private school is as follows: 95% white and 5% other and they have no
program to provide Special Education services to their students.
The mission of SCS is to graduate all students. The mission of Sumter County Primary
School is to plant the seeds to grow successful graduates. Being a primary level school, there is a
heavy emphasis on teaching reading and mathematics. Other subjects are integrated, but not the
main focus. The media center is a central location in the school and many classes visit once a
week. Students participate in the Accelerated Reading Program as an incentive to read on their
own for pleasure. In addition to coming to the media center with their teacher for organized
programs, students may come to the media center on their own any time of the day to return
books and get new ones. The media center is a warm, welcoming space with a large collection
that is organized to be very user-friendly to budding readers. There is a large selection of easy
books (lots of pictures and suitable for new readers) as well as non-fiction books, chapter books,
and audio-assisted collections. There are a five to six computers for students to use for learning
activities such as Star Reading, Star Math, and Renaissance Learning.
There are lots of existing reading promotion activities that are conducted seasonally or
for special occasions. Students who have a new baby born at home are given a care package that

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN4

includes books the child can read to the new baby. In the late fall, classes are challenged with
using a pumpkin to help create a character from a book. Seeing the characters come to life
always encourages students to select those books for pleasure reading. There are surprise
bookmarks placed around the media center in books. If a student chooses that book to check out,
they win a prize. The Book Prize Bags program is to reward students for reading five books and
maintaining good behavior. Names are drawn and prizes are given. Every time they read another
five books, their name is added giving them greater chances to win something during the year.
Names are drawn weekly. There is an existing Accelerated Reader Program implemented by the
media specialist consisting of a large pizza party and jumpy houses for readers who achieve their
goals at the end of the year. At this time, participation in the program is optional for teachers.
Some teachers emphasize it and some do not.

Section III: The Plan

A. The Project Outline
This reading promotion plan is designed to enhance the existing Accelerated Reading
Program at SCPS. Instead of just having one party at the end of each semester, there will be a
themed party at the end of each 9 weeks with a total of four parties during the year. There will be
prizes along the way as students work to achieve their goal each 9 weeks rather than for the
entire year. Breaking the goals up into 4 smaller pieces will make it easier for these younger
children to gauge their progress throughout the year.
During the first 9 weeks, students will be pre-tested in the Star Reading program and a
benchmark will be developed for them. The media specialist will design a plan for the students
that include 30 minutes of personal reading each day. A points goal is established for each 9

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN5

weeks and students are assigned their suggested ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) range
which can be adjusted based on performance during the year. They are taught how to select
books in their range based on the color coding of the books in the media center. Students take
tests in a program called Renaissance Learning on the books they have read and earn points if
they score an 85% or higher. The media specialist will maintain a notebook with rosters for every
teacher in the school and will document when students reach certain levels and earn awards. At
the end of each 9 weeks, the media specialist will report on how many students reached their 9
weeks goal and these students will be able to attend the themed party. Students who did not make
their points goal during the 9 week period will be able to start over again and try to obtain their
goal during the next period. This allows everyone to have multiple opportunities to be successful
without getting behind and feeling hopeless.
In addition to the enhanced party planning through AR goals, students also have a chance
to talk to their fellow classmates through short booktalks over the intercom. Chance and Lesesne
(2012) say that booktalks help students find books they will enjoy, show students enthusiasm for
books and highlight reading and books without additional funding. Primary school students are
just learning how to use computers effectively, so the creation of products using technology will
not be part of this plan. But the booktalks will be recorded and posted on the schools media
center web page as videos where students can watch from home or in classrooms. Lucky
bookmarks are currently placed in random books and students get prizes if they happen to check
the book out. But, those students will also be able to address the student body on the morning
announcements to tell them what they book is about and their opinion of the book. Of course, the
media specialist will review with them beforehand so that the student does not spoil the ending
for anyone else. The students will also have an opportunity to have their talk recorded for

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN6

playback on the schools media center webpage. But they will get to share their reading
experience with others and encourage others to read a the same time.
B. The Details
A system of prizes has been established as ongoing rewards for progress towards reading
goals. As students progress through their reading program, they will earn the following prizes:

15 Points- Bookmark

25 Points- Pencil and eraser

40 Points- Stress ball and a metal

75 Points- School hat with a button

100 Points- T-shirt and a certificate

To reward students during each 9 week grading period for reaching their personal goals, parties
and activities will be planned around the overall theme of Reading Our Way Around the
World. Each party will focus on different continents and there will be stations of activities
hosted in and out of the media center. These parties will be hosted on half days and will enlist the
help of connections and physical education teachers who normally do not see the students on
those days. Some teachers will be designated to hold classes full of students who did not reach
their AR goals for that particular period. The party plans are themed and include activity stations.
Students will be at each station for 20 minutes. They are as follows:

Fall Party- Europe & Asia

o

Station 1: Picture with Great Wall of China or Eiffel Tower

Students will choose their backgrounds, onto which they will be Photoshopped,
and will be photographed by class with their teacher.

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN7

o

Station 2: Painting in Paris

Students get to try to paint famous paintings or coloring dragon masks with the art
teacher
o

Station 3: Drum Festivals of Spain

In the gym, students will use exercise balls as drums along with fun Spanish
music
o

Station 4: Fish n Chips, Sushi, Fortune Cookies, and tea

This is a snack station where students will enjoy Goldfish crackers and chips,
Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls cut to look like sushi rolls, fortune cookies, and
sweet tea with a drink of some sort.
o

Station 5: Origami

Students will learn to make very simple origami

o

Station 6: German Edelweiss Hat

Students will fold green construction paper to make the classic German hat

Christmas Party- Antarctica & Australia

o

Station 1: Picture with a milk jug igloo and penguin party props

Students will choose their backgrounds, onto which they will be Photoshopped,
and will be photographed by class with their teacher.
o

Station 2: Snowball fights in the gym

Students are split into 2 teams with a line between them. The goal is to pick all the
paper up off the floor on their side and throw it to the other side.

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN8

o

Station 3: Kangaroo Hop in the gym

Students bounce around on exercise balls (with handles) in the gym pretending to
be kangaroos
o

Station 4: Ice Cream and hot chocolate

This snack station will take place in the cafeteria.

o

Station 5: Paper Snowflakes

Students will learn to fold coffee filters and cut them to make snowflakes
o

Station 6: Winter Painting

With the art teacher, students will paint with blue and white paint and then use
glue and Epsom salt to make their painting look frosty.

Spring Party- Africa

o

Station 1: Picture with a milk jug igloo and penguin party props

Students will choose their backgrounds, onto which they will be Photoshopped,
and will be photographed by class with their teacher.
o

Station 2: Rainforest obstacle course

In the gym, students will make their way through a course made from
o

Station 3: Safari binoculars

With the art teacher, students make decorate and make binoculars out of toilet
paper rolls and yarn.
o

Station 4: Monkey bread, bananas, and jungle juice

This is a snack station in the cafeteria. The jungle juice is green punch.

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN9

o

Station 5: Rainforest Yoga

In the gym, students will learn fun poses to look like animals like frogs, snakes,
etc and have fun making those sounds
o

Station 6: Wild Animals from Chehaw Park

Chehaw Park in Albany, GA does school visits and will bring animals with them
for the students to see.

End of the Year- North and South America

o Station 1: Picture with the Statue of Liberty or Mayan pyramids
Students will choose their backgrounds, onto which they will be Photoshopped,
and will be photographed by class with their teacher.
o Station 2: Egg race (plastic Easter eggs) and three legged race
Students play egg races and three legged races in the gym
o Station 3: Gold rush
Students will have chance to pan for gold (dried corn painted gold) in containers
of sand using pie plates with holes punched in them
o Station 4: Pizza, hot dogs, french fries, cookies, and coke
o Station 5: Jump castles
Students get to play on a few jump castles for longer period of time

C. The Resources
There are lots of different resources required to make this sort of reward program a
reality. All of the activities in this promotional plan are realistic with the human and financial
resources available now. First and foremost, it will require help and participation of many
teachers and the administrators. The school or school system has to pay for a site license for the
Renaissance Learning and Star Reading programs. The funds to purchase prizes and many of the
supplies come from Book Fair revenue. However, a lot of the party activities require normal

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN10

household items that will be collected throughout the year and will not cost anything. The
greatest resource is the school staff and parents at the school. The media specialist cannot do this
alone. The cafeteria staff will be asked to help prepare a few of the snacks such as monkey bread,
hot dogs, and sweet tea. Technology in the form of Photoshop will be used by the staff members
and the media specialist to cut student groups out and place them on the appropriate backgrounds
for the party pictures.

D. The Timeline
The timeframe for the AR Reading Promotion Program will take place throughout the course
of the school year.

August
o

Students take Star Pre-Test in Renaissance Learning Program to set

benchmark.

August through October

o

Students work to earn points and prizes by reading books and

scoring an 85% or higher on AR Test.

October
o

1st 9 weeks theme party takes place

Students points will start over for next 9 weeks

Meet with teachers and administration to share data: AR

Participation vs Test Scores

October through December

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN11

o

Students work to earn points and prizes by reading books and

scoring an 85% or higher on AR Test.

December
o

2nd 9 weeks theme party takes place

Students points will start over for next 9 weeks.

Students take Star Test to reassess and set new benchmarks

Meet with teachers and administration to share data: AR

January

Participation vs Test Scores

January through March

o

Students work to earn points and prizes by reading books and

scoring an 85% or higher on AR Test.

March
o

3rd 9 weeks theme party

Students points will start over for next 9 weeks.

Meet with teachers to share data: AR Participation vs Test Scores

March through May

o

Students work to earn points and prizes by reading books and

scoring an 85% or higher on AR Test.

May

year

4th 9 weeks/end of year theme party

Students take final Star Test to view growth made throughout the

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN12

o

Students take Star Test to evaluate their end-of-the year reading

comprehension levels.
o

Meet with teachers and administration to share final data: AR

Participation vs Test Scores

Section IV: Evaluation of the Reading Promotion Plan
This promotion plan can easily be evaluated without ostracizing students. First, since the
media specialist tracks the progress of each teachers class separately, parallels can be drawn
between participation in the program and gains on standardized tests. In the middle of the year,
students are re-evaluated in Star Reading and those reports can be used to evaluate the
relationship between progress and AR participation. Although the program is optional, teachers
should be encouraged to participate when they see that the results can be beneficial for them.
There is no barrier to accessing these test results because the media specialist has access to the
Star Reading reports all year long and administration always shares overall standardized test
results with the staff. Collaboration with the school administrators will be helpful in obtaining
class-by-class results. Teachers and administrators will have access to the comparison data as
requested, but the trend data that is displayed will not be labeled by teacher/class. The reports
will be designed to show that the more a student/group takes advantage of the Accelerated
Reading program, the greater their gains in reading comprehension and on standardized tests.
The program will also be publicized throughout the system during the year. Our school system
has a Facebook page where these activities can be shared.

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN13

Our Reading Promotion Plan Presentation can be viewed here:

https://docs.google.com/a/georgiasouthern.edu/presentation/d/1OirZFGA3CpRpYB93pjJEpBfC
3QCyJ-U5AkkFVaAwKlU/edit?usp=sharing

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN14

Section V: References
Amanda. (2011, June 27). Week Three of Our Summer Travels: Germany. Retrieved from
Mommys Idea Book: http://www.mommysideabook.com/page/10/
American Association of School Librarians. (2009). Empowering Learners: Guidelines for
School Library Programs. Chicago: American Library Association.
Americus Sumter High. (2016). Americus Sumter High. Retrieved from ASHS Homepage:
http://ashs.sumterschools.org/
Chance, R,. & Lesesne, T. (2012). Rethinking Reading Promotion. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), 2628.
Chanda. (2015, May 4). Rainforest Yoga. Retrieved from PinkOatmeal:
http://www.pinkoatmeal.com/rainforest-yoga/
Find Good School. (2016). SOUTHLAND ACADEMY AMERICUS GA. Retrieved from Find
Good School: http://findgoodschool.com/school/ppinA0301268-SOUTHLANDACADEMY-AMERICUS-GA
Georgia Facts. (2016). Sumter County Website. Retrieved from Demographics:
http://www.sumtercountyga.us/DocumentCenter/Home/View/50
Moyer, M., & Williams, M. (2011). Personal Programming: Customizing Accelerated Reader
Helps Delsea Regional High School Encourage Student Reading. Knowledge Quest,
39(4), 68-73.
National Education Association. (2015). Facts about Childrens Literacy. Retrieved from
National Education Association: http://www.nea.org/grants/facts-about-childrensliteracy.html

Running Head: READING PROMOTION PLAN15

Parker, L. (2016, April 7). Sumter County Primary School Media Specialist. (K. Price,
Interviewer)
Punkoney, S. (2015, January 20). SPARKLY MIXED MEDIA WINTER PAINTINGS. Retrieved
from Stay at Home Educator: http://stayathomeeducator.com/sparkly-mixed-mediumwinter-paintings/
The Governor's Office of Student Achievement. (2016). GOSA. Retrieved from Student and
School Demographics: https://gosa.georgia.gov/student-and-school-demographics
Solley, K. (2011). Accelerated Reader Can Be an Effective Tool to Encourage and Bolster
Student Reading. Knowledge Quest, 39(4), 46-49.
Sumter County Primary School. (2016). Sumter County Primary School. Retrieved from ASHS
Homepage: http://scps.sumterschools.org/
Vance, C. (2013). Accelerated Reader Presentation. Retrieved from Prezi:
http://prezi.com/ekla4alkhcih/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
Renaissance Learning. [Renaissance Support]. (2014, June 12). A Look Inside an Accelerated
Reader Classroom [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ktgHmJFifHA
Sisters in Zion. (2016). Around the World in 80 minutes. Retrieved from
http://goforwardwithfaith.blogspot.com/2011/04/around-world-in-80-minutes.html
Unknown. (2016). Western Cowgirl. Retrieved from Catch My Party:
http://catchmyparty.com/photos/1069280
U.S. Department of Commerce. (2016). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved from Quick
Facts: http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/00,13261