1. Jenna Rehm
Mrs. Corbett
Senior Project
April 9, 2012
Senior Project Speech
When I was a young child, I always wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I
had always vowed to make my lessons full of fun activities with no reading, since that
was my least favorite subject. As I grew up I quickly found out that reading at a young
age was very important in order to strengthen education later on in life. Had I read more
as a child, I believe that my vocabulary and literacy skills would have been much better
today. Looking back at peers of mine who read more than me at an early age, I can easily
notice a difference in their strong literacy skills today versus mine. With this experience
in mind, I put together a reading program at Macedonia Elementary for my senior project.
I called it “For the Love of Reading” and I used the program to promote and foster the
love of reading and its importance to many primary grade-level students. This program
was made up of nine meetings held throughout October, November, and December of
2011. For the program to be successful, I knew it had to be research based. Therefore, I
researched early childhood literacy and its importance to get the necessary information I
would need for my project. I wanted to find a clear connection between young students
reading and the instructional level of their classes later on in their schooling career.
Through research, I found students that frequently read at a young age, were placed in the
higher-level classes at an older age. The impact of minimal reading on students has
become a major issue in the teaching career field as evidenced in all the research
available. My research found that as a result, many schools have programs to increase
reading in the classroom and even at home. The AASL (American Association of School
Librarians) sets goals relevant to the needs of individual schools in America in order to
promote reading as a necessity. Schools are beginning to do what they can to keep
reading at a maximum for their students by promoting programs such as “Every Child
Ready to Read @ Your Library”, which has been recently set up around America. I chose
this topic because I love working with young children and because I wanted to make a

2. difference in their lives. I knew that by promoting reading and its importance, my goal
would be reached. Researching this topic helped me to realize just how much work I
needed to put into my literacy program to make it effective for each and every student.
Creating my product was a very thought provoking process. It was difficult for me
to figure out just how I wanted to spread a love of reading to a group of elementary
children. I would not have been able to do it without the help from my effective project
facilitator. I was looking for someone who was patient, creative, and highly educated in
working with young students. I wanted my project facilitator to be heavily involved with
children specifically in her workplace. I personally knew the media specialist at a nearby
elementary school, Macedonia Elementary, and I contacted her about helping me reach
my goal for my senior project. I also knew she had an extensive background in literacy
and young readers. Without a doubt, Mrs. Jennifer Rice was an easy choice for me. She
graduated in 1997 from Georgia College and State University with a Specialist Degree in
Early Childhood Education. Mrs. Rice taught kindergarten for two years, and third grade
for sixteen years. This is her first year as a media specialist. She is currently working on
her Library Media add-on for her certification, although she has already passed the
GACE test for library media. With all this in mind, I knew Mrs. Rice had great
experience with young readers and this made her the perfect candidate for me.
There were many steps involved in the process to create my product. My
facilitator and I frequently emailed back and forth trying to figure out when and where to
meet. After setting a schedule, we met many times before I began conducting the
meetings with the elementary students. I had a hard time meeting with her because of my
school schedule and work, but on the days I had off I would find time to go to her house
and discuss what I wanted to do. During our first meeting, we established the place,
times, and dates for each meeting. We planned on the first three Tuesdays of October,
November, and December. Since I did not get out of school until 3:30pm, we agreed that
it was best for me to meet with the afterschool program students from 4-5pm. We also
decided that I would read to the 4th and 5th graders every first Tuesday, the 2nd and 3rd
graders every second Tuesday, and the kindergarten and 1st graders every third Tuesday
of the month. Another one of our meetings took place in the library at Macedonia. There,
we discussed which books I could read to the young students. I had to carefully choose

3. which books to read because I would read a different level to the three different groups.
When choosing my books, I also tried to make choices appropriate to the season in which
I would be reading them. (Pause here to show the books I brought in as a visual.) After
coming up with all nine of these children books, I was able to check them out and prepare
for my meetings. Soon after reading through each book, I met again with Mrs. Rice to
come up with a craft and food activity to go along with each book. These activities were
what proved to the students that reading really can be fun. I knew that by incorporating
enjoyable crafts and snacks along with the stories, these children would leave with a
strong interest in making reading fun. Each meeting was based on a specific children’s
book that was read at the beginning of each lesson. (Explain these next few sentences
while showing the scrapbook of pictures and examples of the arts and crafts.) In October,
I read Too Many Pumpkins to the 4th and 5th graders. We made bookmarks and mini-
pumpkin pies to go along with the story. The following Tuesday, I read Franklin’s
Halloween to the 2nd and 3rd graders. After reading, I helped them make Halloween
masks and monster smiles. Next, I read The Hallo-Weiner to the kindergarten and 1st
graders and we made bookmarks and decorated dog-bone shaped cookies. In November, I
read Two Bad Ants to the 4th and 5th graders. Afterwards, we made ants on a log and they
did a scavenger hunt around the library. For the 2nd and 3rd graders, I read Arthur’s
Thanksgiving and we made AR Turkeys and mini pumpkin pies. Finally, for the
kindergarten and 1st graders I read Happy Thanksgiving, Curious George and I helped
them decorate Turkeys and make mini pumpkin pies. Last but not least came December.
For the 4th and 5th graders, I read The Mitten. Together, we knitted felt mittens and made
trail mix. Next, I read Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the 2nd and 3rd graders. They
decorated stockings and created reindeer themed cupcakes. Finally, I read The
Gingerbread Man to the kindergarten and 1st graders. We all decorated gingerbread
cookies and made our own gingerbread men out of construction paper. (Pause here to
give each judge a sample of three different food activities.) Through all these activities, I
knew I would be able to get through to the students about how important reading is. It
was a joy to see them come into the library every Tuesday excited to see what I had
planned for them. I could easily tell that they loved the effort I put into showing them

4. how important reading is. Hearing them talk about how excited they were for the next
time we would meet was one of the most rewarding parts of this project.
Although these meetings were a lot of fun, there were a few problems I
encountered. One main issue was peanut allergies. A lot of the 2nd and 3rd graders seemed
to have severe allergies to peanuts. When bringing in food, I had to make sure nothing
contained peanuts. When one of my activities did contain peanuts, I had to make a few
students sit outside the room while the rest made their snacks. Because this arrangement
was not a good experience for everyone, I made sure none of my other activities
contained this food. Another problem I encountered was keeping the children focused.
Since they had already been in school all day and were with me as part of their after
school program, the last thing they wanted to do was pay attention. With the help of my
facilitator, she was easily able to get them focused, as this skill was part of her everyday
job. I had to learn from her the technique of keeping them quiet for long enough to pay
attention to direction. One more problem I encountered was a furlough day that was
placed on a Tuesday that I was supposed to hold a meeting on. Since we did not have
school that day, I made the decision to move the meeting to that Thursday and I contacted
the school to let the parents of students in after school program know. All in all, these
obstacles were very easy to overcome and did not put a huge damper on my product.
In conclusion, I believe that producing reading meetings for the students at
Macedonia was an important and successful product. I finally reached my goal of helping
these young students understand the importance of reading in their lives. I have learned
that I have strong work habits when I’m interested in the task at hand. My habits
remained positive throughout the entire project as I continued to work on it throughout
the year. I continued to keep my dates organized as well as the activities that I would
need to prepare for each week. Also, I gained stronger communication skills through this
project. I successfully made flyers for all the parents at Macedonia that contained who,
what, where, and why. (Pause to show the flyer.) I also learned to communicate through
email with my facilitator and those at the elementary school who I needed to contact.
Although I loved this senior project, I do not think I could ever be a teacher or librarian. I
had the patience I needed for the short time that I was with the children, but trying to
keep them entertained all day, everyday would definitely be a struggle for me. For my

5. post-secondary education, I will attend The University Of Georgia. I am not sure what I
will be majoring in yet, but I believe I would be highly suited for a job promoting
something that I strongly believe in. I feel like I would enjoy non-profit work or public
affairs, because when I set a goal, I do not stop until it is achieved.
Now, I will leave you with one question: what would your life have been like if
you had not started reading until after elementary school? Thank you so much for your
time. Are there any questions?