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The Chino Valley area, part of a tri-city area, had the lowest reading scores in the area for many years. The Chino Valley Rotary Club, through the Million Word Reading Challenge, has partnered with the Chino Valley School District (CVUSD) and Mingus Springs Charter School, to raise the literacy levels of Chino Valley students. Each year we partner with the 4 schools and challenge students to read books. Tests are conducted at the conclusion of the book, via an electronic program, to test their comprehension, and the number of words read are recorded per student. The Rotary Club members visit each school quarterly and have a party with the highest reading class in each grade - root beer float parties or pizza parties. At the end of the school year we participate in a banquet where all the children who read over a million words are given prizes - the prizes range from Amazon Gift Cards to Kindles, and for the highest reader, a Kindle Fire.
The Chino Valley School District has over 1,700 students who participate in the program, and Mingus Springs has approximately 200. In total, the children read over 377,000,000 this year! There were 166 students who read over a million words, and the top person read over 8 million words alone, closer to 9 million.
The School District will take pictures of the high-reading students, and make posters with their pictures on them that depict sayings such as, "Mary likes to play soccer, but she really LOVES to read." The poster will have a picture of Mary with a soccer ball and a book. The children love the quarterly parties and they are interactive with the Rotary members and the teachers.
At the end of the year, much ado is made of the over-million readers, a huge success. We provide Amazon gift cards of $20.00 each for those who read over a million words, and for the top 2 readers in each school (4 schools) we give them a Kindle reader. For the #1 reader in all schools, we give them a Kindle Fire reader.
The Superintendent, who is also a Rotarian, is a huge fan of the program and the success it has brought to the children in the District. The Assistant Superintendent says, "The children love the program and the competitiveness that comes with it. They enjoy the parties and prizes that occur all year long." It is estimated that scores have risen on the AIMS reading test by 7% since the inception of this program.
2014-15 will be the 6th year that this program has been in effect, all run by our Rotary Club. With the budget cuts hitting the school districts, the district couldn't fund the software and the teacher time to administer the program, so Rotary has made a commitment to continue the program through our members. The local newspaper will often cover the quarterly parties as well as the end-of-the-year banquet. The Rotarians are also visible with their shirts at the quarterly parties and annual banquet. As we have a small club, it can be a struggle to raise the funds for this project.
We spend approximately $1,500.00 on the quarterly school parties (1 class per grade, 4 schools), $3,500.00 on Amazon Gift Cards ($20 per student for students who read 1 million words or more), $1,000.00 on the annual banquet and $1,000.00 on kindles and the Kindle Fire reading devices. This project begins in August and concludes in April, coinciding with the school calendars.
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