Box Top Program Focus At SWC School
Southwest City School collects Box Tops for Education year-round. But, throughout February, those small, cardboard clippings are more valuable than ever.
To celebrate 20 years of Box Tops, General Mills is hosting a contest wherein each Walmart-exclusive Box Top Certificate collected enters the school into a drawing to be one of 20 schools to receive 50,000 bonus Box Tops – that’s $5,000.
These certificates equate to five Box Tops and can be found on select Walmart items, including Nature Valley, Progresso, and Yoplait products.
Shelli Sullivan is Southwest City School’s Box Top Coordinator and a multilevel reading teacher. She is responsible for collecting and redeeming Box Tops as well as purchasing supplies with the proceeds.
This year, Sullivan hopes to expand classroom libraries throughout the school with any funds raised.
“My goal is to get more books in kids’ hands,” she said. “If it’s more convenient for them to find a book, it’s more likely they’ll find something they enjoy reading.”
Sullivan has been a bookworm since childhood and that passion follows her wherever she goes. Last year, when she transferred from Bentonville schools, Sullivan brought with her a book collection more than three-decades in the making.
A large majority of these books are Accelerated Reading material.
For those unfamiliar with AR, it is a points-based reading comprehension program that aids administrators in charting a student’s retention capability.
Each book is assigned a grade level and a point value. After reading a book, students are quizzed on the material and the appropriate number of points are awarded based on their score.
AR capitalizes on a child’s competitive nature while making them comfortable with the written word.
Naturally, Sullivan began sharing titles from her extensive library with other classrooms — helping teachers grow their libraries and students grow their interests.
The results speak volumes. Sullivan said that the school saw a marked increase in reading levels last year.
Are there books in your library that you or your children have outgrown? Sullivan is always willing to give them a new home. She is constantly on the search for new books or multiple copies of classics to make sets for group reading.
Many of her books have signatures of former pupils in the cover, others have dog-eared pages, but each has been well-read and wellloved.
“Some of them have every page taped in,” said Sullivan, smiling. “I tell them those are the best ones!”
For people interested in donating Box Tops, now is the time, because they do expire.
Sullivan noted that there are collection incentives in each classroom. So, if you have an elementary- aged child in your family or neighborhood, your Box Tops could help them earn a prize while concurrently earning money for their school.
Donations can also be left in the front office.
“My goal is to get more books in kids’ hands. If it’s more convenient for them to find a book, it’s more likely they’ll find something they enjoy reading.”
— Shelli Sullivan Southwest City School Box Top Coordinator