Students are struggling to read behind masks and screens during COVID-19, but ‘expectations are no different’ – By Leigh Guidry, Mandy McLaren, Laura Testino, Isabel Lohman and Gabriela Szymanowska (USA Today) / Mar 8 2021
Reading brings out the competitor in 8-year-old Uriah Hargrave. The second grader at Eaton Park Elementary in Vermilion Parish along Louisiana’s southwest coast was thrilled to return to in-person learning in January. One of his favorite things is the Accelerated Reader program in which he wins points for the books he reads.
“I like to read because I like to take AR,” Uriah said. “You get more (points and prizes) every time. … Yesterday, I read a big ol’ chapter book about animals with kids.”
His points pay off in extra free time outside and “Star Bucks” that he can use to buy erasers and spy pens at the school store. Plus, his reading helps advance his class’s gingerbread cutout on the Candy Land game bulletin board in the school hallway. He proudly pointed out where his class was in relation to the other second grade classes.
Yet too many children may be falling behind in the reading game during the pandemic, teachers and experts say. The USA TODAY Network visited a handful of classrooms in different states to see how schools are adapting as the teachers’ axiom about students learning to read in early grades so they can read to learn the rest of their lives has never been put to a greater test.
