School librarian Lynn Trenary and students accept Great Ideas Grant contribution from Kern Kemmerer of Montana Rail Link.
Adventure, mystery, animals, history…reading opens up the whole world to students. The teachers at Warren Elementary in Helena will be opening up a whole new world of reading with a classroom set of Kindle e-readers for their students, encouraging them to be lifelong learners and lifelong readers. The teachers applied for a Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation grant contribution to the Helena Education Foundation’s Great Ideas Grant. Under this program, teachers design the special projects or methodology that best suits a curricular area. In this case, access to e-books through the use of Kindles will enhance student achievement in the areas of reading, spelling, science, social studies and math. The set of Kindles, made possible by the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation’s grant, will have profound impact on the learning of this year’s class, as well as many classes to come.
With Kindles in the classrooms, students will be given more choice and variety in learning and in the presentation of materials than is usually found in classroom delivery systems. The Kindles will also provide more visual stimulation than regular classroom materials. Interesting and relevant books will be easily shared, and teachers will also be able to download one title and have groups of students read the book together in literature groups. The sky will be the limit for the reading that gifted students can do, and appropriate reading material for average students will be more accessible. Students, along with their teachers will set goals for their reading progress and keep a log to track their progress toward those goals. Cross-age tutoring or buddy reading with partners will also be explored.