Brag about Reading

School:: Golden Terrace Elementary
Subject:: Language Arts
Teacher:: Tiffany Weeks
Students Impacted:: 450
Grade:: K-5
Date:: September 2, 2015

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Mary Seaton Breese - $160.60

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 480

My goal was to increase motivation by rewarding students for challenging themselves to read appropriate leveled books independently. The students were given custom "brag tags" when they met their reading goals. These brag tags were collected on key rings that they attached to their backpacks, so they could display them. The tags were so popular that I ended up using some of my media funds to expand the levels! There were 8 different tags the students could earn! I have seen an average of a 15% increase in the number of students who have earned at least one level award! We still have a month to go! The biggest improvement was with 5th grade where I have seen a 20% increase in participation, and they are my hardest students to motivate.

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

To increase motivation by rewarding students for challenging themselves to read appropriate leveled books independently. The students will be given custom "brag tags" when they meet their reading goals. These brag tags will be collected on key rings that they can attach to their backpacks!

What will be done with my students

Students will participate in two separate reading incentive programs.
One focuses on the Sunshine State Young Reader Award program which features 15 books nominated by Florida teachers. All students who read 3 or more books will get to vote for their favorite in the spring using real voting booths provided by the Supervisor of Elections! Students will also receive a custom brag tag when they meet different reading goals. They will have an opportunity to earn two different tags in the Sunshine State program.
We also have a Rising Readers incentive program. This program encourages student to read books at an appropriate level (determined by their teacher). They then will take a short comprehension quiz on each book using the Reading Counts computer program. They earn points for each quiz they pass. Students will have an opportunity to earn three different brag tags for meeting their reading goals in this program.

Benefits to my students

Students are encouraged to read every night. The students are successful when they are reading appropriate level books. Their success becomes an intrinsic motivator, in addition to the incentive of the program rewards, which makes them want to read more.

Daily reading has been proven to have many benefits.
Some of these benefits are:
• Vocabulary Expansion
• Mental Stimulation
• Memory Improvement
• Increased Subject Knowledge
• Stronger Analytical Thinking
• Improved Focus and Concentration
• Better Writing Skills

Budget Narrative

500 key rings will be purchased to hold the brag tags for students.
Brag tags were designed by the media specialist specifically for our students and will be purchased from schoollife.com

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	500 key rings	$15.00
2	Variety of custom brag tags	$145.60
	Total:	$160.60

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