St. Francis School reading program encourages diverse choices

At St. Francis School in Humphrey, something was missing in the school’s accelerated reading (AR) program – variety.

So Stacie Baumgart, AR coordinator, came up with a solution. She developed the “passport” program, which encouraged reading program participants in grades one through seven to select works from a variety of literary genres. After completing a book, and passing a test or writing a paper, students receive a stamp in their reading passports.

Students who filled their passports by the end of the semester got to attend an “around the world” theme party Dec. 19. The event included games, a photo booth offering several exotic backgrounds such as the Taj Mahal and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and dressing in costumes from the “Chronicles of Narnia” book series.