Reading takes center stage in fourth-grade class

OAK RIDGE, Mo. -- Students rush to read in Susan LaPierre's fourth-grade class at Oak Ridge Elementary School.

As part of the Accelerated Reader or AR program, students read books and then take quick quizzes on a computer at the front of the classroom. The computer prints out the test results and totals up points.

LaPierre allows students time to read in class after the whole class has recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Some of her 16 students lounge on carpet squares under a table in the back of the room while they read books during a 20-minute period in the morning.

Students who get their reading done and take the quizzes during the week are rewarded with a popcorn party on Friday.

The fourth-grade curriculum in the rural elementary school is heavy on reading, spelling, math and science, as well as Missouri and U.S. history.

Student Richard Stewart said he and his classmates are reading more this year than they did in third grade.

"It's fun," says Richard.

Spelling, however, can be a challenge, particularly the bonus words. Stewart said the toughest bonus word he's encountered is Landewee, as in Gerald Landewee, the elementary school principal.

LaPierre gives spelling tests every Friday.

A crowded room

A first-year teacher, LaPierre has provided a plastic water bottle for every student. The water is rationed, but the practice allows students to get a drink without having to leave the classroom.

LaPierre says it's less disruptive that way.

Although there are only 16 students in the class, the room is crowded with desks, a bookcase and storage cubicles for students to stash their coats, books and backpacks.

It's a small classroom, its cream-colored, tiled walls identifying that the corner room was once part of the school kitchen. The entire school has 223 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

LaPierre sits on a stool at the front of the room at times. But much of the time she's standing or walking down the aisle, encouraging students and checking their progress as they work on a writing assignment or other lessons.

LaPierre's classroom goals, rules and punishments are posted on one wall. The goals: Cooperation, accountability, respect and excellence.

The rules are clear, too, everything from listening and following directions to avoiding "inappropriate talk."

Students who get out of line run the risk of having their teacher pull clothespins from green, pink and orange pieces of paper bearing their names. Each student starts the day with five wooden clothespins. At the end of the day, any student who still has four or five pins by his or her name is included in a drawing. The winner gets a lollipop.

A student who loses three pins has to spend 10 minutes at the "isolation" desk at the front of the room and fill out a form on how he or she can "fix" the problem.

On Thursday, there was no science lesson.

Fourth-grader Devon Beard likes science. "We get to mess around with worms," he says as LaPierre's class enjoys a mid-morning recess on the playground.

There are clear gender divisions at recess. Most of the boys play kickball while most of the girls climb on the monkey bars.

The children play hard, resulting in scrapes and bruises from time to time. "It's a battleground out there," LaPierre says.

LaPierre finds time in class for show-and-tell. Erin Owens shows off a St. Louis Cardinals ticket signed by pitcher Steve Kline. As the designated Student of the Week in LaPierre's class, she gets to disclose her favorite book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," one of her favorite foods, fried squid, and her wish to have "lots of friends."

From time to time during the school day, some of the students give their teacher a hug.

For many of the kids, math is their least favorite subject. "Math is the toughest thing," says Erin. "You have to write down the problems."

The afternoon math lesson focuses on telling time. Thursday's lesson came after a brief round of calisthenics and follow-the-leader, designed to make up for a scheduling change that cut out physical education class that day.

"Doesn't your brain feel better?" LaPierre asks before proceeding with the math lesson. "No," the students shout in unison. LaPierre moves on to math.

After math, the class receives a brief lesson from school health counselor Karen Robertson. Aided by a video presentation, Robertson advises students against teasing classmates and offers positive ways to respond to teasing.

The guidance counselor visits the classroom for half an hour once a week, discussing different topics each time.

By day's end, LaPierre's fourth graders are ready to go home.

Standing in the empty classroom, LaPierre offers up kind thoughts about her students, even those that can be trying at times.

"I am just so uplifted by the sweet, kind, generous nature of these kids," she says with a smile.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123