Walton County Schools spark a love of reading with Beanstack

By Christy Breedlove

Walton County Public School sixth-graders Bristol Hardy and Willow Austin get in on reading as encouraged by the Beanstack project now implement in five schools in the district. Contributed photo

Noted author Victor Hugo once imparted a small but powerful bit of wisdom: “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”

Children who grow up with parents who read to them or with them are twice as likely to score in the top 25% in reading comprehension than non-readers, according to the Literacy Project Foundation.

All Walton County Public Schools media specialists would likely agree. Five WCPS schools have taken that bit of wisdom one step further by participating in Beanstack, a reading initiative designed to encourage students to become lifelong readers. All three middle schools are participating, along with Monroe Area High School and Walnut Grove High School.

Beanstack is a nationwide reading initiative designed to motivate children to become lifelong readers. The program focuses on the entire community — parents, schools and businesses. Rather than relying solely on programs such as Accelerated Reader and Lexile, students and adults are encouraged to read during their free time and log the minutes they spend reading.

Newspapers, audiobooks, magazines, physical books and e-books all count. Teachers may also log minutes on behalf of their students for books they read as part of class assignments.

Monroe Area High School media specialist Sarah Sapinski came up with an unusual way to create awareness of the program. She purchased hair clips featuring bean-sprout vines and distributed them to students.

“Implementing Beanstack is all about creating a culture of reading at our school. Our students have been (bean) reading — we just need to celebrate it more! The sprouts are a conversation starter. We distributed them organically as students came to the Media Center for class visits or Chromebook help. It gets our students and staff talking about reading!” Sapinski said.

“This program encourages and recognizes students as they spend time reading — not the number of pages or books finished — which is great for readers at all levels.”

Carver Middle School media specialist Courtney Lowe purchased several bean-sprout hair clips after Sapinski told her about the success of the idea.

“We started giving the clips away to our eighth-grade students as they checked out books, and it went viral,” Lowe said. “When eighth grade went to lunch, we immediately saw a jump in reading minutes and students checking out books. All CMS students are now wearing bean-sprout clips in school and in public.”

Lowe said the program is also helping change the way students view reading.

“A lot of students think that they don’t like to read because they are only reading texts assigned for class. By making reading fun, we can encourage students to spend more time with books, which improves reading skills.”

Lowe said Beanstack is helping bring the joy back to reading.

“Required reading motivates no one. Now it’s no longer a chore. Reading is something families can do together, whether it be reading newspapers, listening to audiobooks or both,” Lowe said. “It opens up worlds that students have never dreamed of visiting. We hope to be that push that will spark students into passionate readers.”