Phillip and Susan Thies

The "21st Century Reading: Everyone Exceeding Expectations" project will involve students in kindergarten through fourth grade at Gardner Elementary School. Utilizing a MP3 player and a Language Audio Card Reader, Thies will help students improve their reading comprehension and fluency. Through this program, students will read stories, record them on the computer and download them onto a MP3 player to take home so they can work on their reading skills with a parent. The Language Audio Card Reader, which benefits the growing population of English learning students, allows students to "scan" cards that, in turn, repeats their words. Thies plans to have a card reader at each student's home to help them learn new sight words and vocabulary. With its focus on improving reading comprehension and reading fluency, this access to technology will create a more educated school population which then extends to the whole community.