The Liberty HRRB 2010-2011

Elementary, middle, and high school students across Liberty County have been working hard all year reading, reviewing, and practicing for the fifth annual Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Reading is passion for many of these students, and the reading bowl offers a unique opportunity to celebrate their skills. The academic reading competition is possible with help from school media specialists, classroom teachers, instructional technology staff members, and retired educators.

Each year elementary and middle school students interested in participating in the student reading competition read books from the Georgia Children’s Book Award Nominee list for the current school year on their level. Students in the fourth and fifth grade qualify for participation in the bowl. This year elementary students read from a list containing seventeen books. The middle school reading list contained twenty books. In addition to reading books from the required list, students work as a team to create practice questions to review the facts from each book and prepare for the bowl by scrimmaging with a hand-held buzzer system.

Interested high school students also prepare for the bowl by reading, creating questions, and scrimmaging with a hand-held buzzer system. However, their reading list is taken from the Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers. The list for this year contained twenty books.

The middle and high school student teams participated in the Liberty County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl on January 20th at the Liberty County Performing Arts Center. All of the middle and high schools were represented by their student teams. Several principals and parents attended to root for their school’s team. Student teams competed through six rounds of questions taken from their required reading list for a total of sixty questions. Student teams were enthusiastic and well-mannered!

The first place team for the middle school level was Lewis Frasier Middle School. The LFMS team was coached by their media specialist Dr. Sandy Jennings. Midway Middle School’s team took second place and was coached by Mrs. Cristina Dover.

Liberty County High School earned first place in the county reading bowl. The LCHS team was coached by Ms. Kay Williams, a media specialist for the high school. Mrs. Mrs. Amy Rhodes and Mrs. MaryAnn Scanlon served as assistant coaches for the LCHS team. Bradwell Institute’s reading bowl team took second place and was coached by Mrs. Nicole Lukkarinen, a media specialist at Bradwell. Mrs. Deborah Starkey served as an assistant coach for the BI team.

The elementary Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl was held January 21st at the Liberty County Performing Arts Center. All of the Liberty County elementary schools were represented by a team. First Presbyterian Christian Academy participated in the bowl for the first time. Several principals attended to support their school’s team. Parent attendance was also very high, filling the auditorium with eager spectators. The elementary teams participated in eight rounds of questions from their required reading list, for a total of eighty questions. All of the student teams showed focus and demonstrated excellent reading comprehension skill.

Joseph Martin Elementary School took first place in the reading bowl. Mrs. Elaine Walker, the school media specialist, was the lead coach. She was assisted by Ms. Rebecca Smith. Waldo Pafford Elementary School’s team placed second in the reading bowl. Mrs. Roxanne Lee, the school media specialist, was the coach foe WPE.

The first and second place teams from the elementary, middle, and high schools will advance to the Southern Regional Helen Ruffin Reading bowl which will be held February 5th at Valdosta State University. After the regional bowl, winning teams will advance to a divisional bowl and from there to the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl in Athens. Both Joseph Martin Elementary and Liberty County High School have previously attended the state level of competition.

Preparing for the bowl takes a tremendous amount of dedication, many hours of reading, and practice. All of the student team members did an excellent job and are to be commended.