“I want to be a teacher after I graduate from UTC and to take a few minutes to read to the students at Clifton Hills Elementary and see the smiles on their faces knowing that someone cares is great.”
UTC junior basketball player Jasmine Joyner
Clifton Hills Elementary School principal Beth Litz is excited about eating fried worms.
Well, not exactly.
Mrs.
Litz has given the students at the Rossville-based school a school-wide challenge of reading approximately 1,200 books by the end of April and if the challenge is met she will eat fried worms.
“I came up with this idea to get the kids at our school to be ‘book worms’ and learn to love to read,” said a smiling Litz. “I am not real excited about eating the worms, but will do it for the kids.”
Clifton Hills is one of the lowest performing schools in the state in reading based on results from last spring’s state-wide Tennessee Ready Assessment and Mrs. Litz and school staff and teachers want those scores to improve.
Read Those Books: When a student reads a book and turns in a report on what he or she read then they can put up a paper plate in the school hallway with their name on it and the book title.
“We bought 1,200 plates which should be enough to circle the inside of the school and right now we have 800 plates decorated with the kids’ names on them on the wall,” principal Litz said. “And the line of plates continues to grow each week which is great.”
UTC’s Involvement: Local real estate leader Darlene Brown wants the community to be involved in this reading project and she has enlisted the help of the players and coaches of the UTC women’s basketball team.
“This week is ‘Read Across America Week’ with the use of many of the Dr. Suess books and myself and some of the players have spent some time at the school reading to students in various classes and we believe we can encourage the kids to read on their own,” said Brown, owner of Real Estate Partners.
UTC Coach Jim Foster said, “It is important for our players to do well in the classroom and on the court (21-7), but also to reach out to those in our community who can use our help and working with the kids at Clifton Hills is a great way for us to just that.”
But Brown has not just had the players and others in the community to stop by for a few minutes to read and move on with their regular daily lives, but to show the kids others outside of their neighborhood care about their lives.
She even had her favorite teacher from Ridgedale Elementary School, Mary Bowen, stop by earlier this week and spend an hour reading to students in various classes and help them with the “ABC’s song.”
“I taught Darlene for two years at Ridgedale and also at East Side Junior High. I have kept up with Darlene all these years and I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished in life,” stated Mrs. Bowen who taught school for 40 years (1961-2000).
Many of the students attended a women’s home basketball game during Education Day and Brown led the way raising $10,000 in donations to make sure every child at Clifton Hills received a Christmas gift basket and every teacher, teachers’ aid and staff member received a gift card to a local restaurant.
“We spent part of day in December at the school with the kids and had Santa Claus there to pass out Christmas gifts,” stated Brown who will be honored by the American Lung Association April 26 as one of 10 Chattanooga Women of Distinction for2016 at the organization’s annual luncheon. “All the hard work was worth it to see the smiles on the faces of the students.”
The UTC players and coaches have also helped the kids during the annual book fair to buy books and school supplies.
“I enjoyed attending the school’s Book Fair as we helped the kids buy books and supplies and made sure they could make the correct change on their purchases which is all part of being a good student in math to know how to add and subtract,” said junior center Jasmine Joyner who along with her teammates play Samford this afternoon in a Southern Conference women's tournament semifinal game in Asheville, N.C.
Readers Make Leaders: Staff member Jolayne Harper who is a family partnership specialist said, “We want and need the parents of our students and people in the community to get excited about the kids being able to read at the their grade level as we preach all the time, ‘readers make leaders.’”
Fifth Grade Students’ Comments on Reading
Jersey Chubb: “Reading helps us to learn and if we cannot read we won’t have an education.”
Chubb plays football for Avondale Chargers … he has five plates on the wall and his favorite book is The Lightening Thief.
Chris Baltazar: “I have read 15 books in the Goose Bumps series as I enjoy mystery and adventure type books. I need to write up my reports on the books so I can put the plates on the wall.”
Chris plays football, basketball and soccer.
Liara Hinnard: “I enjoy reading and “Friendship and Frosting” is my favorite book which is about two girls who make cupcakes for a bake sale.
Liara enjoys football and is a member of the school’s dance team and has one plate on the wall.
Floridilia Pascual: “I enjoy reading and know that it is important to be able to read to get a job when you are finished with school.
She has two plates on the wall and enjoys reading books in the Judy Moody Series … she also enjoys drawing.
Principal Litz stated, “The teachers and staff here at Clifton Hills Elementary are excited by the interest our students have in reading and their understanding of the importance reading and comprehending can effect so many areas of a student's life and we feel confident they will score well in the upcoming Tennessee Ready Assessment next week.
She looks forward to the reading level of the students improving this year, more plates going up on the wall in the coming weeks and getting ready to eat some fried worms, maybe with the help of some condiments (jelly, ketsup, etc.).
If the students become great book worms, the fried worms’ snack will be worth it all.
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@cimcast.net