Fun rewards motivate Plains students to read more

The Plains Elementary School principal was hit in the face with a pie, smothered with silly string, compelled to gobble up cake and pudding as fast as he could, and will be dunked in a tub of water - all done in the cause of reading.

The more books the students read, the more points they garnered, and the more points they collected, the better their chances were to do something fun to Principal Jim Holland, during part of the annual Love to Read Program, which is designed to motivate youth to read more, according to Gena Ferlan, who heads the Title 1 program at Plains. The program was conducted a little different this year, due to the COVID pandemic. They didn't gather in the gymnasium for the assembly to mark the program's end and announce the top winners, and they also didn't have the assembly contest with selected students and the staff. Normally, it's at the assembly that members of Masonic Ponemah Lodge 63 of Plains present the top readers with e-readers or bikes, but they didn't participate this year because most of them are older and a higher COVID risk, said Ferlan. In addition, this year's program was only open to students from kindergarten through sixth grade - 240 students. The book fair this year, which ran from Feb. 22 to March 7, was an online sale only. This year, too, all the high jinks were aimed at Holland, who has participated in the Love to Read Program for his 15 years at Plains, including this year having to wear a rainbow wig for a day after students earned an accumulative 1,500 points. For the students earning 1,000 points, he had to perform with a hula hoop.

The national Love to Read Program was created to promote reading by kids, a primary path to knowledge and essential for academic growth, according to Ferlan, who said that reading teaches spelling, grammar, vocabulary, composition, punctuation, and comprehension. "Kids learn all those things, plus they can escape to another place without leaving their seat. If we can teach kids that along with all the benefits of knowledge that comes with reading, they also have an escape from all worries for a while. We could all use an escape from reality once in a while and books are the cheapest and safest way to travel," said Ferlan.

She said that the Love to Read Program gives the students a chance to have fun, but it also inspires them to read. "We have some kids who refuse to read until they have that extrinsic motivation. In a lot of cases, the kids magically realize reading is actually pretty fun in the process," she said. "It opens up doors to information and imagination, something we all need access to." 

This year is special for Holland, who will retire at the end of the school year after 28 years, which includes 13 years at Hot Springs School. Kevin Meredith will fill the elementary principal slot. The Plains School Board held a special session recently to unanimously vote to hire Ryon Nolan, a Deer Lodge Elementary School teacher, as the Plains High School principal.

"They all pitched in to get Mr. Holland. I think they like pranking him, and he's such a good sport," said Ferlan. "I think Jim loves it. He'll miss the kids a lot," she added. "He's never said no to any of our pranks over the years." Holland has participated in the program for numerous years and has often been on the receiving end of the Love to Read escapades and last week, he took on three other staffers - Superintendent Thom Chisholm, Principal Kevin Meredith, and Rheanna Fulton, the school counselor, in a "Cat in the Hat" cake and chocolate pudding dessert eating contest and finished as the champion. 

The program has a different theme each year.  Teachers, with the help of some students, decorate the halls with that theme. It's Dr. Seuss this year. In this year's program, the students received a ticket for every five points. They got to have their picture in the library with 10 points, received a Dr. Seuss snack mix with 15 points, and got a free book at the book fair for 20 points. "Instead of just rewarding the top readers, usually the same group of kids each year, we reward everyone for reading," said Ferlan, who has organized the program for 13 years. "They all had a chance. The more they read, the more tickets they earned, giving them more opportunity to be drawn. We also combined everyone's points together, which earned the activities with Mr. Holland," she said. Seventeen students, along with five teachers, were behind the silly string activity the previous week. Holland was wrapped in plastic garbage bags and sunglasses before getting caked with silly string.

Last Tuesday, after the student body reached 3,000 points, seven lucky students from kindergarten to sixth grade, whose names were drawn, got to throw whipped cream pies in his face. The older kids tossed their pies from about 10 feet away, but the younger ones "basically shoved it into his face," said Ferlan. She also said that if they missed, Holland picked the pie off the ground and let them try again - "grass in the pie and all." All of them eventually hit their target. Pie throwers included: Kimber Mathers-Underhill of kindergarten, first-grader Lily Taylor, second-grader Zander Strack, third-grader Levi Sturdivant, fourth-grader Kylie Silva, fifth-grader Kenna Miller, and six-grader Marina Tulloch. The program's grand finale and Holland's final humiliation will come in the near future, when students will have the opportunity to get Holland soaked in a dunking tank.  

"Reading at home is key to success. We do all we can at school but it takes a village to raise kids. We hope our students' families will support our view of the importance of reading and make reading a daily activity at home," said Ferlan. 

Jace Russell of the first grade was the top reader with 78 books and collected 37.2 points.  In second place was Teslyn Boon with 21.9 points and reading 47 books. Gavin Brown placed third with 17.1 points. Ryker Anderson of the second grade read 67 books and collected 33 points, followed by Kendal Spurr with 66 books and 31.9 points. In third place with 29.4 points was Jude Meaden. 

The top reader in the third grade was Taitum Ellis with 33.2 points, followed by Halle Collett with 32.9 points, and Brook Ferlan with 32.8 points. Talon Ferlan took top honors in the fourth grade with 105.5 points, followed by Kylar Bannout with 69.5 points, and in third was Kiara Brown with 61.6 points. Fifth-graders Tristan Allen and Tia Bellinger tied for first by racking up 49.7 points. In second was Owen Jermyn with 44.8. 

The top reader of the school was sixth-grader Marina Tulloch, who totaled 167.3 points. Ashley Ferlan amassed 106.2 points, followed by Will Horodyski with 37.5 points. The kindergarten students all read the same amount of books together, according to Ferlan, who added that the goal for the school was 3,500 points, but they totaled 3,714.2 points.