Current Poll
| Students volunteer for reading group |
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| Education | |||
| Written by Jesse Trimble | |||
| Wednesday, 25 November 2009 09:00 | |||
Second-graders at Rockville Elementary met on Thursday to discuss a book that they’d volunteered to read outside of class.  “Lunch Bunch” was an idea of first-grade teacher Dana Lemke that she thought of over the summer and wanted to implement this school year for the first time. Students are given three books over the course of the school year. They then have about a month to read the book at home and fill out a report log when they complete it. Then they meet in the library with Lemke and other teachers to discuss what they’ve read. Lemke said it gives her an opportunity to follow-up with the students and see how they’re doing after they’ve continued from her first-grade class to second grade. The students also take an Accelerated Reader test over the book after they meet with their Lunch Bunch group. “I feel like something like this promotes independence and responsibility,” Lemke said. She said she has already noticed, not only excitement from the students, but promising results. “They are finding details that they pull from the books that I never noticed,” she added. “They are just so darn excited about it.” A few titles Lemke and other teachers collaborated on choosing include, “Nate the Great” and “Henry and Mud,” which are both part of a series. Lemke said the response logs the students fill out assist them with paying attention to what they read. The second-graders answer questions about the book, map out the basic story line and generate a question of their own to use during the Lunch Bunch discussion. “The second-grade teachers have been extremely helpful,” Lemke said. “I go to them for help with finding the right books. They’ve also been very supportive, because they teach second grade and I teach first, so I’m not there if the students may have a question in their classes.” Librarian Ava White has also assisted Lemke with the new program. “We work cooperatively to make sure the kids get to interject something to the discussion,” Lemke said. She added sometimes shy students have a harder time speaking up during the discussion, but they all get the opportunity to contribute. Not only have fellow teachers been supportive of the program, but parents have already started to voice opinions, too, according to Lemke. She said many parents have expressed that their children can’t wait until the next Lunch Bunch. Second-grade teacher Pat Anderson has chipped in by using scholastic points to purchase the books for the students, and Lemke said a lot of teachers helped with preparing the books to go out to the students. Lemke said she can already see modifications that need to be made to the program, but she doesn’t have a problem with working on it. “If the kids want it, and if the teachers want it — then I’ll bring it back,” she said about next year. The next Lunch Bunch will be held in February, and at the end of the year the students will receive a pizza party if they complete all three books.
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