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ST. CLAIR SHORES — Thanks to a grant from the National Parent-Teacher Association, students at Elmwood Elementary School may have their interest piqued more by reading on an e-reader than a paper book.
The Parent-Teacher Association of Elmwood, in South Lake Schools, applied for a grant for e-readers in the summer of 2016 and was recently notified of — and presented with — 20 Amazon Kindle e-readers, valued at about $80 each.
“It was pretty exciting,” said Kristie Penn, vice president of the Elmwood PTA and the writer of the grant. “It’s one of those things where we’re all trying to do a little bit to do a greater part, but it takes involvement from everyone.”
Although the grant provided fewer e-readers than would be needed for an entire classroom, Penn said that in talking with Principal Michael Fringer, the PTA decided that the best use for the new technology would be the school’s Walk to Read program.
Fringer said the Walk to Read program allows students to learn at the reading level they are at — whether it’s a third-grader reading at a fourth-grade level or at a second-grade level.
“We want to make sure that the instruction is tiered at their level. We can give those kids the Kindles; they can pull the titles right up on the Kindles,” he said. “It helps us streamline our instructional resources, (and) of course, they take up less space. The kids are really attracted to them ... and it didn’t cost us a dime.”
Typically, Fringer said, every time the schools want to upgrade technology, officials have to go to voters for more bond money.
“It was just a win for the school,” he said.
The Kindles were introduced at the school’s March 24 open house.
“The kids that got their hands on them seem really excited,” he said.
Penn said that, typically, school officials would buy books for the Walk to Read program. Having the set of Kindles, however, will allow them to buy copies of a book less expensively than buying paper copies of the same book.
The PTA is also providing a $100 Amazon gift card to get the school started with purchasing Kindle versions of the books.
Fringer said the school benefits greatly from the work of the PTA.
“The continued emphasis is to increase the technology in the building because there’s just a natural gravitational pull whenever kids see a screen,” he said.
