HRRB Teams

How many students are on your team? Please list your school name and number.

Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Book Club

Teachers, paraprofessionals, and media specialists have been reading and taking notes this summer. Soon they will come together to create questions for this year's Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl!

This year during the professional learning class Liberty County offers, the technology focus of the class will be using the MacBook Pro, Keynote, iPhoto, GarageBand, and the iPad to create interesting book trailers!

Reading Bowl Students are Recognized

Recently at the April 14th Liberty County Board of Education Meeting students and coaches from each school were recognized as part of the good news portion of the meeting.

As in years past all of the elementary, middle, and high schools in Liberty County had a student team participate in the county level bowl.

The first and second place winners were able to advance to the Southern Region Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Joseph Martin Elementary, Waldo Pafford Elementary, Lewis Frasier Middle, Midway Middle, Liberty County High, and Bradwell Institute all advanced to the the regional bowl this year.

The competition was very stiff at the regional level only Joseph Martin Elementary, Midway Middle, and Liberty County High School were able to advance to the Division II Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Midway Middle and Liberty County High School were recognized for participation, and Joseph Martin Elementary earned second place.

The reading lists for next year's bowl have already been released. Several copies of each book have been ordered at all of the schools, and students have already started to read!

You can see the reading list for next year's bowls at the HRRB home page. Click on the title of this posting to go to the page.

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.

Students at WPE are Buzzing In!

How do you get fourth and fifth graders excited about reading? Waldo Pafford Elementary has students buzzing about reading! Recently, media specialists, Roxanne Lee, invited fourth and fifth grade students in to preview the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl books for this year.

Students listened to brief book talks about each of the 17 selected titles and then checked out their favorite. The books flew off the shelve in no time. In addition to getting familiar with the books, students learned the rules for the reading bowl. The visit concluded with students participating in a mock bowl. The questions for the bowl came from the most popular books in circulation- Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants were both represented!

LCHS Helen Ruffin Readers are Rocking the Green Screen!

Students at Liberty County High School are getting ready for the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl! Media specialists, Kay Williams and Jeff Staggs, host two weekly after school meetings for students to review and discuss the selected reading bowl books. Along with the weekly meetings, students meet with Bradwell Institute HRRB team members and scrimmage frequently to prepare for the reading bowl.

Last week, LCHS readers stepped in front of the green screen to learn how to use Adobe Visual Communicator 3 to create book trailers for the books they have been reading and studying. The book trailers will also be entered into the school media festival!

Technology use and a love for reading are hand-in-hand in the LCHS media center

Helen Ruffin Book Club 2010-2011

This year media specialists, teachers, and paraprofessional from elementary, middle, and high schools across Liberty County created book trailers to peek the interest of student readers for Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Participants learned how easy video production can be with Adobe Visual Communicator 3.

Several media specialists plan to teach students how to use the program. Liberty County High School's media specialists, Jeff Staggs and Kay Williams, plan to use the program with students to create media festival projects!

A Wrap on the Reading Bowl

The 2009-2010 school year provided for a wonderful year of the reading bowl! As in years past, the Liberty County School System had its share of the excitement. Bradwell Institute, Liberty County High School, and Joseph Martin Elementary all advanced to the Division B level of the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl February 6th.

The Division B bowl consist of the first and second place teams from the Southern Regional HRRB, Middle Georgia HRRB, and East Georgia HRRB. The bowl was held at Southeast Bulloch High School. Several media specialists from LCSS volunteered to show their support for the event.

All of the student teams participated with enthusiasm and pride. The elementary level of the competition concluded with Matilda Harris Elementary of Camden County earning first place. Our own Joseph Martin Elementary came in a close second place.

The middle level of the competition concluded with St. Mary's Middle School of Camden County earning first place. Our own Midway Middle School came in a close second place against St. Mary's at the Southern Regional Reading Bowl in Valdosta.

The high school level of the competition concluded with Houston County's Warner Robins High School earning first place. Liberty County High School was not far behind earning second place. Bradwell Institute was recognized for participation in the bowl.

Incidently, both Matilda Harris Elementary and Warner Robins High School both advanced on to win the state level of the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. The bowl was held March 20th as part of the Children's Literature Conference in Athens.


And so it begins again... Just as sure as the pollen is flying and covering everything in Liberty County, our school media specialists are feverishly ordering, reading, and writing questions to help prepare our student teams for next year!

Liberty County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl

Reading is passion for many of the students in the Liberty County School System. With help from school media specialists, classroom teachers, and instructional technology staff members a passion for reading can also mean an academic competition, the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl!

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 eighteen 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 review questions, and scrimmaging with a hand-held buzzer system, but 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 27th at the Board of Education. All of the middle and high schools were represented by a student team. Several principals and parents attended to root for their school team. Student teams competed through six rounds of questions taken from their required reading list, for a total of sixty questions asked. Student teams were enthusiastic and well-mannered.

The first place team for the middle school level was Midway Middle School. The MMS team was coached by their media specialist, Mrs. Cristina Dover. Lewis Frasier Middle School’s team took second place, and was coached by Mrs. Sharon Dunham.

At the high school level, 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. Sarah Hein, a teacher at LCHS, served as an assistant coach. Bradwell Institute’s reading bowl team took second place and was coached by Ms. Diana Clark. Ms. Clark is a media specialist at Bradwell. Her assistant coach was Mrs. Deborah Starkey, a teacher at Bradwell.

The elementary Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl was held January 29th at the Board of Education. Every elementary school was represented by a team. Several principals attended to support their team. Parent attendance was also very high, filling the board room with eager spectators. The elementary teams participated in seven rounds of questions from their required reading list, for a total of seventy questions. Each round was very close and all of the student teams were very well-read.

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 Mrs. Elaine Dasher, Mrs. Rose Mack, and Ms. Rebecca Smith, both teachers at Joseph Martin. Button Gwinnett Elementary School’s team placed second in the reading bowl. Mrs. Tory Baker, the school media specialist, was the coach for the Button Gwinnett team. Mrs. Baker’s assistant coach was Mrs. Anttonia Hofmann, the media paraprofessional at BGE.

The first and second place teams from elementary, middle, and high school will advance to the Southern Regional Helen Ruffin Reading bowl being held February 6th at Valdosta State University. After the regional bowl, winning teams will advance to a divisional bowl, and lastly the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Both Joseph Martin Elementary and Liberty County High School have previously attended the state level of the competition. This year also promises to be a record setting year for the Liberty County School System!


Button Gwinnett’s HRRB Team
Pictured here: Front Row: Yulissa David, Damian Lustiano, Dameon McIntire
Back Row: I’Teaona Wells, Tory Baker- Media Specialist, Anttonia Hofmann- Media Assistant, Ryan Clow, Carlos Miller, and Nikita White

Joseph Martin Elementary HRRB Team:
Pictured here: Front row l to r: Spencer Jones, Isaiah Quarterman, Yash Patel Back row l to r: Emmaline Menger, Uyen-Vy Hoang, Ah’Shaiyah Mitchell, Raha Davis, Dayle McCallar

Midway Middle School’s HRRB Team:
Pictured here: L to R:
Top row: C. Dover, KiAmbrielle Queen, Stephen Langford, Mikia Frazier, Ajile Owens, Amanda Dollar, Clayton Grant
Bottom row: Tiffany Erickson, Jayden Trotter, Alan Cain

Lewis Fraiser Middle School’s HRRB Team
Pictured here:
Front (left to right): Jordan Graham, Cassity Chambers, Melana Linville
Back (left to right): Precious Wright, Thais Sanchez, Tiara Taylor, Jourdin Bailey, Rebekah Kim, Patience Wright, and Sharon Dunham, Coach.

Bradwell Institute HRRB Team:
Pictured here: Back row: Natalie Sharp, Ron Barnes, Brittani Ford, Tyrique Golphin
Front row: Samantha O’Neal, Jada Donald, Susan Mason, Kiana Brown, Erina Veliz

Liberty County HRRB Team
Pictured here:
Team picture, L – R: Mrs. Sarah Hein, Scott Stroup, Demi Glisson, Josh Hutto, Keith Lemay, Rachel Trawick, Khameron Mitchem, Chazare’ Riley, Felisha Burks, Ms. Kay Williams.

Book Trailers Made Using Frames

During the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Book Club Phase III professional learning class, participants will learn how to create videos using Tech4Learning's animation program Frames 4. Frames 4 has great drawing tools. You do not have to focus on clay. You can animate much more!

Liberty County High School Welcomes Up and Coming Freshmen

April 7th was the night of the 8th Grade Parent Night at LCHS. Eager soon-to-be freshmen and parents toured the school, met school staff, and learned about the clubs and services available.

Of course, the media team of Mr. Staggs and Ms. Williams was on the scene to introduce families to the media center! Mr. Staggs introduced several online resources. The resources included, but were not limited to Nettrekker, Atomic Learning, and Destiny.

Ms. Williams presented a kiosk and display of the 2009-2010 Peach Teen Award Nominee Books for students, in the hopes of recruiting reading bowl team members. (LCHS and BI are known for their fierce Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl teams!)

For more technology-geared students, Ms. Williams showcased a sampling of student media festival projects and other student-produced videos. Two student participants from the LCHS media festival were also on-hand to answer any questions.