SCOTT CITY READY TO SELL YELL PAPERS

SCOTT CITY -- The YELL chain is growing stronger and more diverse every year.

St. Joseph Catholic School received its first Youth Education Literacy Learning grant in 1996 and used the $50 to buy reading material for a first- and second-grade class. Principal Darlene Leonard said Pat Haenni bought four sets of books with audiocassettes, "she's very frugal."

The books and cassettes were used by the beginning readers in Haenni's class. Leonard said the sets promote better reading skills and allow the children to do independent study.

"They can have extra practice," Leonard said. "As they hear the tape their also finding the word with their finger and following along. That means they're learning to read with inflection because the people on the tape are reading with inflection. "They're reading good patterns and sounds."

St. Joseph, a parochial school founded about 80 years ago, has about 80 students. Leonard, who has been principal for four years, said the school will apply for another YELL grant this year.

Leonard, Haenni and some of her students' parents will be out hawking the newspapers in Scott City on Sept. 9. "We're even going to stand out by Wink's where all the teachers pull through for their morning sodas," Leonard said.

About 20 people from the Scott City High School student council and Future Business Leaders of America will work the streets as well. The senior and junior high schools received a $350 grant from the YELL program last year, and much of that money went to purchase newspapers.

John Helderman, a high school social studies teacher, uses the newspapers to teach about 25 students on current events. Papers are also used by about 25 students at the junior high and 80 students in the elementary school.

"Students can learn what's happening right now as opposed to what's happened in the past few years," Helderman said.

The students also critique the papers for writing styles and bias. "We also recycle them," he said.

Helderman has worked with the YELL program since it began. He and his students will hawk papers in the high school parking lot and the Interstate-55 off-ramps.

Glenda Kenkel, branch librarian for Riverside Regional Library in Scott City, said her library's grant went for reading materials that will allow younger readers more control over their development. Kenkel said the library bought videos, audiocassettes and books that permit readers to go at their own pace and choose their own style of learning.

"If parents read to them that kind of gets them started. They enjoy the books more if they can read themselves, though," she said.

Kenkel said about 75 children used the materials purchased from last year's YELL grant. The books were also used by adults who read to the children in groups.

"The videos have to do with learning letters and also colors and shapes," Kenkel said.

Kenkel and another library worker will sell YELL papers on the Second Street overpass.