PRINCETON — Logan Township Middle School placed first in the “Small Schools” category of the Great Reading Games, a national reading competition hosted by Learning Ally, an ed-tech nonprofit.
Sixteen students at Logan Township Middle School competed against 22,000 students from 1,210 United States schools and districts to achieve this prestigious recognition. This year, students read more than seven million pages in just seven weeks.
Logan Special Education Teacher Ashley Wakelee, said, “I am so proud of my students’ hard work and determination. They truly earned that first place standing.
“Throughout the eight week competition, students read 30,636 pages. They read for 16,794 minutes total. Those numbers are seriously impressive,” she said. “Learning Ally has been such a great addition to our classroom, and competitions like the Great Reading Games are a great motivator for some of my students who are reluctant readers!”
“I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of Mrs. Wakelee’s class for winning the Great Reading Games,” said Logan Principal Heather Moran. “Their hard work and dedication has helped them make HUGE strides in their reading ability and comprehension skills. They are so amazing.”
Terrie Noland, Learning Ally’s National Director of Educator Engagement, said, “We are so proud to honor Logan Township Middle School for their outstanding achievement.” Noland added that students who participate in the Great Reading Games are typically not at the top of their class or in the front of the line to sign up for book club.
“This program is uniquely designed to support more schools and teachers’ efforts to build a positive culture of readers in their school environment. Our aim is for more students to enjoy the reading and learning process. We want them to know that they can access and comprehend grade-level books and succeed in whatever they want to accomplish.”
The Great Reading Games is Learning Ally’s signature reading engagement competition. It is uniquely designed to motivate K-12 struggling and non-readers, such as those with dyslexia or a visual impairment to read for more than 20 minutes each day.
As students read and learn through human-read audiobooks, they get excited about reading and begin to improve their reading comprehension, fluency, critical thinking and vocabulary skills to become more confident learners.
Students who compete in the Great Reading Games are three times more likely to excel in reading frequency and 300 percent more likely to achieve levels of success that ties directly into their academic, emotional, and social behavior.
Learning Ally designed the Great Reading Games based on the best practices in education gamification to make reading fun and motivating for students.
Students can easily download audiobooks directly to their tablets, computers, smartphones, Chromebooks and other devices and read daily for 20 minutes in school or on the go, even without Internet access.
Winning schools, teachers, and students receive prizes, including Chromebooks, gift cards, headphones and student prize packs.
