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Reading pays off for childrenBy PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE© St. Petersburg Times published April 24, 2003 Linda VanAllen just wanted to do something to help children realize the importance of reading. From that idea came the Rockin' Readers program. Since January, VanAllen's company, VanAllen-Clifford Insurance Inc., has been providing incentives for third-graders to read. Parents sign papers attesting that their children finish books, and the number of books read is recorded in each child's classroom. The students are competing within their schools to be the best-read classes. At the end of a nine-week period, the class that has read the most books will receive $50 to buy books and have a party. At the end of the year, the top three classes among all schools will receive $100 each for books and will be invited to a cookout. The winning third grade classes at each school for the third nine-week period were Martha Brown's class at Hernando Elementary; Linda Ferrara's class at Lecanto Primary; Teresa Jenkins' class at Rock Crusher Elementary; Brendan Bonomo's class at Forest Ridge Elementary; Tina Cassidy's class at Inverness Primary; Jack Vino's class at Homosassa Elementary; Pam Jordan's class at Pleasant Grove Elementary; Sheri Vilardi's class at Citrus Springs Elementary; Carol Stakes' class at Crystal River Primary; and Rachel Calma's class at Floral City Elementary. In all, 11,167 books were read by students in all the participating third-grade classes. VanAllen was astonished by the number of books the children had read. "I hope it encourages kids to read more," she said.
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