After a year of reading, some Lafayette students got more than improved brain functions, like phonemic awareness, visual and auditory processes, comprehension and fluency - they got cool stuff.
The Kiwanis Club of Lafayette partnered with the Lafayette Parish School System to help boost the Accelerated Reader program. Kids earn points through the AR program, and that makes them eligible for prizes. Students get one raffle ticket for reaching their AR point goal each nine weeks, but also have the opportunity to earn more tickets by reading beyond their goal.
This month, prizes are being awarded to the industrious readers at each of Lafayette Parish's 24 elementary schools. The drawings were held outside to ensure social distancing was maintained.
Today, we were there for the drawing at J. Wallace James Elementary School on Willow.
"What we are hoping that the kids take away from this event is more of a life long love of reading and to really be able to improve their reading skills," says Kiwanis member James Smith. "And we've seen from the fall semester to the spring semester a 58% improvement in participation for the AR reading program."
AR Goals are individualized and based on each student's reading level.
