THE GAZETTE
Page A-12
Wednesday, February 12, 2014 s
SCHOOL LIFE Reading is Terrific is helping first-graders learn to love reading E.A. Stonesifer of Rockville and Frank Ieardi of Laytonsville are founders of Reading is Terrific, a nonprofit organization that provides books and readers to first-graders in eight Montgomery County Title I public schools. They were interviewed Saturday and Sunday.
VOICES IN EDUCATION burg] — it was one school and one classroom. We now go to eight schools and read to over 800 students. Can you explain the program?
Frank, I know you make and distribute wooden toys to organizations who work with children in need. Is Reading is Terrific an outgrowth of that?
The wood toys started as a retirement activity; I worked for IBM as a computer programmer. When I retired I went to the Montgomery County volunteer office and they hooked me up with Wood to Wonderful, a group making toys for needy kids. Woodworking was always my hobby. When the organizers of that retired and moved to Pennsylvania, I continued the work, starting a nonprofit, Woodworkers for Children Charity, in 1997. The book program began in 2004. E.A. suggested it. She too knew Doug and Louise Brown, the toymaking couple who moved to Pennsylvania. They started a reading program there and suggested she start one in Montgomery County and get in touch with me to help her. Can you tell me about that, E.A.?
books. Our budget is between $20,000 and $25,000 this year. United Way has provided significant funding through its Community Impact Grants but unfortunately we do not qualify under their new rules. They are not funding organizations with budgets less than $50,000. We have developed other sources including grants from the Phase Foundation and IBM and we have generous individual donors.
We started nine years ago at Rosemont Elementary School [Gaithers-
Stonesifer: We have readers who go into the schools once a month to read to first-graders. All of the schools are Title I schools and each child gets a copy of the book each month, so by the end of the year they each own nine books. The program gives the students reading skills, like learning new vocabulary and predicting [outcomes]. Frank and I are really careful to choose books with good storylines and we also want excellent illustrations — they are first-graders.
What does this program mean to you?
Putting books into the hands of kids. Many parents can’t afford them, they are struggling to put food on the table. I read in the newspaper that it is important for kids to have books in their homes. This is an attempt to help that situation.
Are you a reader?
Stonesifer: I am, and there is no doubt that the best part of my job is being with the children. I taught secondary school in MCPS [Montgomery County Public Schools] for 31 years. Working with little ones is a real joy and to see the growth from the beginning of the year to the end. My job is to coordinate readers and the schools. We go into 47 classrooms. This year we opened a new area, Aspen Hill, Wheaton. So we added another coordinator, Kay McGuire, a retired MCPS
PEGGY MCEWAN/THE GAZETTE
E.A. Stonesifer and Frank Ieardi are the founders of Reading is Terrific. Their organization provides books and readers to first-graders in eight Montgomery County Public Schools. counselor. Most of our readers are from MCPS, because that’s who I know. Frank and I do the book selection, we go to a book warehouse to purchase books two to three times a year. This year we are giving out over 800 books a month. I wish I knew how many we have given since the beginning, It’s thousands and thousands.
How about you, Frank, are you a reader?
I have done it once or twice as a substitute but my job is to deliver the books to the classrooms. Each book has a bookplate where the kids can put their name. I put those in, with help. I also do the fundraising, writing grants to get the money for the
More information about the Reading is Terrific program can be found online at www.woodentoy.org. Those interested in becoming readers with the program can email wonderfulnice@ aol.com. “Voices in Education” is a twicemonthly feature that highlights the men and women who are involved with the education of Montgomery County’s children. To suggest someone you would like to see featured, email Peggy McEwan at pmcewan@gazette.net.
EDUCATION NOTEBOOK Budding grand masters enjoy competitive success
Their work will join a collection of original paintings by Herman Maril, an American modernist who was born in Baltimore and was a professor at the University of Maryland for more than 30 years.
More than 20 students from the chess club at Wood Acres Elementary School in Bethesda participated Feb. 1 in the 2014 Greater Mid-Atlantic Scholastic Chess Tournament in Baltimore, bringing home both individual and team trophies. Fourth-grader Miles Stewart took first place in the Varsity K-5 Division and his team, which also included Aksel Bell,
Round House offers summer theater programs
Pascal Bell, Arden Hoehn-Saric and Zach Yaqub, won second
place in that division. Wood Acres third-graders were first in the Varsity K-3 Division. That team comprised
Hari Mahaeswaran, Conner Khovananth, Conrad Decressin and Ben Adams.
“As chess has gained popularity in the Wood Acres community, Wood Acres students have been achieving outstanding success in major scholastic tournaments,” Stewart wrote. The students are now preparing for the Maryland Elementary School Chess Championships on March 8 at Dumbarton Middle School in Towson.
Three students honored with art awards Maryland Comptroller
Peter V.R. Franchot presented
his Maryland Masters Awards to three Montgomery County students at a ceremony Jan. 27 at Newport Mill Middle School in Kensington. The awards, started by Franchot to celebrate the achievements and talents of Maryland public school students, recognizes young,
talented artists who have displayed extraordinary artistic skills, reflecting the vision of Maryland’s future, according to a news release from Franchot’s office. The honored students: • Nicholas Tucker, a fifthgrader at Piney Branch Elementary School in Takoma Park who created an undersea scene with a stingray, fish and sea plants. • Pauline Turla, an eighthgrader at Newport Mill Middle School who used software to form small fractals for a landscape of trees and mountains. • Adam Anderson, a senior at Winston Churchill High School’s Academy of the Creative and Performing Arts in Potomac, who digitally photographed a decommissioned railroad engine at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. The students’ art will be on exhibit for two months at Franchot’s office in Annapolis.
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“The chess program is a big activity at Wood Acres,” said parent coordinator Andrew Stewart. “We competed in four divisions in Baltimore.” Every Wednesday, before and after school, club members meet to learn new moves and play against each other, testing their new skills. There are 70 members of the club, which meets under the tutelage of coach Victor Sherman. “Mr. Sherman has been teaching chess for over 30 years,” Stewart wrote in an email. “He was [formerly] the head coach for the City of Leningrad.” Interest in the chess club, which includes both boys and girls from kindergarten through fifth grade, ranges from those who want to learn to play socially to those interested in competition.
ANDREW STEWART
Members of the chess club at Wood Acres Elementary School in Bethesda, some of whom are pictured here, competed Feb. 1 in the 2014 Greater MidAtlantic Scholastic Chess Tournament in Baltimore.
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Round House Theatre is offering summer programs for anyone kindergarten age and older. The theater offers one- and two-week classes where students can express their imaginations, create plays and learn theater from both sides of the spotlights, according to a news release. The programs run June 16 through Aug. 22 in Silver Spring and Bethesda. For more information, call 301-585-1225, visit roundhousetheatre.org, or email education@roundhousetheatre.org.
Peace groups sponsor writing contest Maryland seventh- and eighth-graders are invited to enter the Fred B. Benjamin Peace Writing Contest, a competition focusing on the themes of peace and social justice. To enter, students must submit an entry of up to 1,200 words on the following topic: “You learn that a friend at school has received repeated cruel and intimidating text messages from other classmates. Some of these communications have even suggested that your friend deserves to be hurt in some way. Your friend also has
been contacted in this manner by text messages and email and through social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Tumblr and Formspring. You realize that these actions are not a joke and need to be stopped. You decide to work with other students to develop a strategy for ending the cyber bullying. Explain what you will do.” The contest is sponsored by Anne Arundel Peace Action, the Maryland Peace Action Education Fund, the Benjamin Peace Foundation of Garrett Park, and the Peace and Justice Center of Annapolis Friends Meeting. It is open to seventh- and eighthgraders in public or private schools and home-schoolers. Four cash prizes will be awarded: $350 for first place, $250 for second place, $150 for third place and $100 for fourth place. The winners also will be honored at a ceremony, although attendance is not required to receive an award. Entries must be accompanied by a separate cover sheet including the student’s name, address and phone number or email address; school’s name, address and phone number; and the name of the teacher sponsor, if applicable. Entries and accompanying materials must be postmarked by April 30 and mailed to Fred B. Benjamin Peace Writing Contest, 310 Riverview Ave., Annapolis, MD 21403-3328. Anne Arundel Peace Action and the Maryland Peace Action Education Fund are affiliated with Peace Action, a grassroots peace and disarmament organization with about 100,000 members nationwide. For more information, call 410-263-7409 or email mjkeller@att.net.
Starr to host book club discussion on hope County schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr will host his first book club discussion of the school year at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 in the auditorium of the Carver Educational Services Center, 850 Hungerford Drive, Rockville. The book is “Making Hope Happen” by Shane Lopez, a senior scientist with the Gallup organization. He is the chief architect of the Gallup Student Poll — taken by more than 1 million public school students, including Montgomery County’s — which measures hope, academic success and overall well-being on the path to determining what drives achievement. Lopez offers examples of people with high hopes who changed their lives. Starr will be joined by Lopez, who will discuss the book and take questions and comments from the audience. Those watching online or on MCPS TV (Comcast Channel 34) can participate in the conversation by sending questions via Twitter, using the hashtag #mcpsbookclub, or by sending an email to ask@mcpsbookclub.org. “Hope is a powerful factor in ensuring our students are prepared to succeed in their future,” Starr said in a statement. “Shane Lopez is one of the nation’s foremost experts on hope and I look forward to engaging with him and our community about how we can instill hope in our children.” Anyone who wants to attend the free event is asked to email pio@mcpsmd.org.