BRUNSWICK ELECTRIC BRIGHT IDEAS GRANTS
MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR YOUNG READERS  - June 2003

Reading skills have been a critical focus of the Bright Ideas Educational Grants program since its inception by Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation (BEMC) nearly ten years ago.  This year’s group of reading program grants have provided literally hundreds of books to make reading more fun and also to build a strong foundation for all future learning for hundreds of our children in Brunswick and Columbus counties.

Old Dock Elementary – Teachers Kim Andrews and Nancy Bennett
The third graders at Old Dock have been reading avidly since the rolling bookshelves loaded with all sorts of interesting titles appeared in their classrooms. They’re exploring everything from historical fiction to folk tales to realistic fiction, limericks and more…. learning about personification, idioms, similes and metaphors along the way.

Evergreen Elementary – Teacher Janice Johnson
“Beating the Odds II” puts special emphasis on Shared Reading, a whole group instruction using large format books.  Eager kindergarten students gather around as the teacher reads and coaches them through these colorful, imaginative books.  Hearing the correct pronunciation and enthusiasm of a skilled reader makes the books come alive and gives the students an auditory learning experience as well as a visual one.  This helps build the child’s confidence and paves the way for independent reading.

Jessie Mae Monroe Literacy Room – Teacher Alisa Duncan
A brand new school in a tight budget year has a lot of empty shelves, so Alisa Duncan turned to Bright Ideas for help to build a “literacy room”.  The Literacy Room supplements the school’s library, with more flexible lending rules and lots of creative and fun stories and tools to engage young readers.  The grant also bought several sets of single books. These sets allow classroom teachers to break up classes into smaller groups with books tailored to different reading levels, instead of an entire class having to read the same book.