FSMS holds AR party for students

Spending a great amount of time reading during the school year has paid off for 176 Fort Scott Middle School students.

According to FSMS media specialist Staci Sinn, students at FSMS who met specific reading goals with their participation in the Accelerated Reader Program were rewarded with an AR party on Wednesday. The AR program makes it possible to test the students' reading comprehension. After an initial test identifies a student's reading level, the students spend time during the school year reading books that are on their personal reading levels. In order to be admitted to the AR party, the students were required to read a minimum of 30 books, totaling 100 AR points throughout the school year. During the AR party, the students were able to take part in various activities including, inflatable activities and a sit and spin ride. The students were also offered small rewards as the school year progressed to help keep them on target to meet the end-of-the-year goal. As an extra incentive to read, all FSMS students who had at least 75 reading points will have an opportunity to purchase items from a points store, which will be equipped with prizes such as bean bags, lava lamps and CD players. The students with the highest points will be allowed to shop in the points store first. According to Sinn there were about 50 more students who earned enough points to participate in the AR party than there were last school year.