THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410070302
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
ABOUT 15 MINUTES into lunch every day at Western Branch Intermediate School, it happens.
Children raise their hands, dump their trays and disappear down the school's quiet hallways with books tucked under their arms.
They're taking advantage of ``Literary Lunch,'' a new program started this year by Principal R. Marc Rittman and his staff to encourage students to read.
``We were just looking for time during the day when students could read, and usually the time around lunch is wasted,'' Rittman said.
Students are allowed to bring books - not including catalogs, magazines or comic books - to lunch. After they finish eating, they are allowed to excuse themselves and head to one of three designated reading areas.
For third-graders, the reading area is a classroom across from the cafeteria. For fourth-graders, it's a spot in the library. Fifth-graders head to a classroom on the other side of the school from the cafeteria.
Students are allowed to sit at desks or on the floor, ``wherever they want, as long as they're reading,'' Rittman said.
``So far, it's worked very well,'' he said. ``Our students have accepted the responsibility of walking quietly through the halls, unsupervised, to the reading areas.''
Teachers and other staff members have volunteered to supervise the reading areas, sometimes giving up 15 minutes of their own lunches to do so. Rittman allows them to leave 15 minutes early on Fridays to make up the time.
Fifth-grade teacher Helen T. Sessoms, who supervises the fifth-grade reading area, said she doesn't mind giving up a little time.
``Doesn't bother me at all,'' she said. ``It gives me a chance to read and sit down with the children.
``It's a good idea. The enthusiasm . . . They could be in the cafeteria with their friends, but they come here quietly and sit down and read.
``Just look at them,'' she said, pointing to a room full of fifth-graders with heads buried in books.
The idea has been popular with students.
``I think it is really fun, because I like reading, and it's quieter than in the lunchroom,'' said 10-year-old Margee E. Rader, a fifth-grader.
The noise in the cafeteria ``gets tiring,'' said Lauren E. Willhoite, also 10 and a fifth-grader. ``I want to read during lunch.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Kathleen Snyder enjoys reading time during Literary Lunch at Western
Branch Intermediate School.
by CNB