Heath, portraying Lt. George A. Chandler of the 5th Maine Infantry Regiment, talks to eighth-grade students as part of A. G. Wright's observance of Read Across America Day. Chandler, a carpenter's apprentice, joined the Army in 1862. Photos by ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Fostering a love of words

Region's students celebrate Read Across America Day

Date published: 3/3/2006

By RUTH FINCH

The more that you read, the more things you will know.

The more you learn, the more places you'll go.

--Dr. Seuss

Historian and Civil War re-enactor Charles Heath recited those words to A.G. Wright Middle School's eighth-graders yesterday--Dr. Seuss' birthday--in celebration of Read Across America Day.

All over the region, students celebrated. High-schoolers came by the busload to read at elementary schools. School board members and other dignitaries came. Some schools even had evening programs for parents and children to read together.

Rodney Thompson Middle was also celebrating yesterday for another reason--the school earned the International Reading Association's Exemplary Reading Program award for Virginia.

And now, school officials are trying to do for math what they've done for reading.

Every school has its own reading specialist who gives struggling students extra attention, trains teachers to help students read better, administers diagnostic reading tests and analyzes standardized test results. Reading specialists also help identify reluctant readers and motivate advanced readers, and consult with teachers looking to incorporate reading into their lesson plans, sometimes even co-teaching classes.

Some schools have a counterpart who does the same for math, but eventually, every school will have one, said Vickie Inge, Stafford schools' supervisor of mathematics and science.

A No Child Left Behind grant allowed some elementary schools to get math specialists, and the state pays for a similar position, called an algebra readiness coach, to work part time in each middle school. The coaches work with students who failed the state's fifth-grade math Standards of Learning test.

The Stafford School Board's proposed budget sets aside $179,000 to make each of those part-time positions full time next school year. That will allow the coaches to consult with teachers interested in better ways to teach math as well as working with struggling students.

Three Stafford elementary schools, as well as one in Spotsylvania, are also part of a National Science Foundation study that pays for math specialists. In 2007-2008, the study will be expanded to include an additional three elementary schools, Inge said.

And the specialists don't deal with just instruction, but also with motivation.

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Date published: 3/3/2006