Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl goes Statewide!
By Anne Wallace
Students from 17 schools, in grades four through
twelve, participated in the 2nd annual Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading
Bowl at Columbia High School in Decatur, Georgia, on March 27,
2004.
The winners for 2003-2004 Georgia Helen Ruffin
Reading Bowl are as follows.
High School
1st Cross Keys High School, DeKalb County
2nd R.L. Osborne High School, Cobb County
Middle School
1st Pickens County Middle, Pickens County
2nd Shamrock Middle School, DeKalb County
3rd Sequoyah Middle School, DeKalb County
Elementary School
1st Henderson Mill Elementary School, DeKalb County
2nd Upson-Lee South Elementary School, Thomstom-Upson System
3rd Hill City Elementary, Pickens County
Lincoln County Elementary, Lincoln County
West Jackson Elementary, Jackson County
For this competition, the books students read
in grades four through eight are the 22 Georgia Nominee books
selected annually by the Department of Language Education at the
University of Georgia’s College of Education under the direction
of Dr. Linda DeGroff.
High School books are selected from a list prepared
by the newly organized Georgia Peach Teen Readers’ Choice
Award Committee. This group is co-chaired by Kathleen Woods, DeKalb
County Library Media Specialist and Bobby Morgan, Consultant for
Children, Parents, and Family Literacy with the Georgia Public
Library Services. Other members of the committee are Gordon Baker,
Henry County Library Media Specialist; Virginia Collier, DeKalb
Public Libraries Young Adult Librarian; Sharon Deeds, DeKalb Public
Libraries Youth Services Coordinator; Mary Nevil, DeKalb County
Library Media Specialist; Kelly Posey, Forsyth Public Library
Young Adult Librarian; and Judy Serritella, Georgia Department
of Education Coordinator of Library Media Services.
What
is the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl? This Reading
Bowl is a unique reading competition in game format that uses
questions from the current Georgia Children’s Book Award
Nominee books and Georgia Peach Teen Readers’ Choice Awards.
Mrs. Helen Ruffin, now a retired library media specialist of DeKalb
County, created the concept for the competition. It was further
nurtured and nourished by fellow DeKalb County library media specialists
and has now grown to encompass the entire state of Georgia.
A “grassroots” group of library media specialists
in the DeKalb County School System worked hard with teachers,
administrators, students and parents to begin and continue a countywide
Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. From this county event, the competition
has grown to a state competition now known as the Georgia Helen
Ruffin Reading Bowl. The DeKalb County Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading
Bowl Steering Committee responsible for these events are chairperson
Dr. Mary Thomas, Betty Beasley, Paige Camp, John Conti, Rosalind
Dennis, Gwen Green, Karen Gurty, Barbara Hallstrom, Jeff Hansen,
Eloise Stevens Jones, Melinda Morin, Mary Nevil, Dr. Evelyn Smith,
Wendy Smith, Anne Wallace, and Kathleen Woods who are all library
media specialists. Other members are Antoinette Smith, DeKalb
County Impact teacher; David Schutten, Organization of DeKalb
Educators President; Joyce Dedeaux, retired library media specialist;
and Ernest Brown, parent.
Two
professional organizations and members of the DeKalb County Georgia
Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Steering Committee successfully
collaborated to plan and implement the state level competition.
The co-chairs for this committee are Barbara Hallstrom from Georgia
Library Media Association (GLMA), Steven Williams from Georgia
Association of Educators (GAE), and Dr. Mary Thomas from the DeKalb
County Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Steering Committee. The
Steering Committee for the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl members
hail from the counties of Camden, Carroll, Cobb, DeKalb, Floyd,
Henry, Jackson, Lincoln, Pickens, and Thomaston-Upson. Most are
members of both GLMA and GAE. They are in addition to the co-chairpersons,
Rosalind Dennis, Suzy Dukes, Christine Ellington, Karen Gurty,
Donna Milner, Dr. Beth Anne Miles, Dorrie Moll, Mary Nevil, Janice
Sly, Monica Thurmond, Kathi Vandrbilt, Andrea Waldrip, and Anne
Wallace. GLMA and GAE members who are interested in becoming a
part of this steering committee should contact one of the chairpersons.
Another large group that has joined in the collaborative effort
for the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is the State University
of West Georgia. Dr. Beth Anne Miles, Assistant Professor of Reading
Education, and her undergraduate candidates from her reading class
volunteered to support and promote literacy at both the DeKalb
County and state level by serving as volunteers at both events.
Further support for the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl has
come from commercial book and audiovisual vendors across the state.
These vendors have donated books and their own time to encourage
the event. They include Leshia Swaim, Baker and Taylor; Randy
Ceryan and Mark McMullen, Follett Library Resources; Gloria Norris,
Perma Bound; and Jim Boone.
Columbia High School in DeKalb County has supported the Reading
Bowl both at the local county level and the state level by providing
their building.
Numerous volunteers who have stepped forth to help are from the
community, business establishments, school administrators, classroom
instructors, library media specialists, library media clerks,
parents, and family members of the students. Some responsibilities
that they have assumed are coaches for the teams, and helping
participants the day of the Reading Bowls.
Join in the fun and bring your students to compete
in March 2005. A new rap is being written to include all the books
that the elementary and middle school children need to read for
the 3rd annual Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl.
Information about the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading
Bowl is located at www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/~canbylane/hrrb/HRRB.html.
This website will be updated to contain a list of the books the
students need to read for the competition, registration information,
location and date of the 3rd annual Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading
Bowl.