Students at Athena Elementary have a fun, new way to take books home to read. The school
recently had a ribbon cutting ceremony for Scottie, a new book vending machine. The student
who was the top reader over the summer got to cut the ribbon.
What is a book vending machine? It’s just what it sounds like – a machine you can put a token
in, push a selection button and a book comes out. Third grade teacher Emily Hansell applied for an AWERE (Athena-Weston Education and Resource Enhancement) grant, and the school received about $7,000 to purchase the machine and materials. Several genres of books, including picture and chapter books, are available in the machine to appeal to multiple types of readers. The school accepts donations of books and hosts book fairs each year to replenish books for the machine.
The vending machine supports Athena Elementary’s Reading at Home (RAH RAH) program.
Students read at least 15 minutes a day for 15 days at home and when they bring their
completed form in, they earn a "gold" coin to use in Scottie, which also talks. Students get to
keep their books. All books are stamped with a RAH RAH certificate and students get to sign the
RAH RAH walls, too.
Principal Kerri Coffman said the school has had the RAH RAH program for over 20 years and the
staff felt that the last few years students were lacking motivation to be reading at home. “This
has re-energized and motivated students to be reading with their families,” Coffman said.
“Increased reading outside of school helps children become stronger students and hopefully
decreases their screen time.”