Schools trying book vending machines
HOT SPRINGS — Students at Hot Springs School District’s Park Magnet, an IB World School, and Main Street Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School have a new incentive to read books, in the form of book vending machines.
A selection of students representing grades kindergarten through sixth, were on hand Thursday morning for a special ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the new machines.
Park Magnet library media specialist Amy Ratcliff said the books are free to the students, who earn tokens to “purchase” books by demonstrating good behavior and doing the right thing.
“We want kids to know how important reading is and it’s something that you’ll do your whole life,” she said. “Having books and getting books in all of their hands is what the main purpose is, and to show the importance of reading.”
Ratcliff said students are “enthralled by those lights in the vending machines. They’re all trying to put real money in … ‘How much do these books cost?’ So they’re ready to spend money, but they’re going to earn it by being principled.”
“That’s so exciting for them,” she said. “Students will be able to earn little tokens and they can get the books from tokens that they earn. Each month, teachers will be given tokens to give out in their classrooms and also the principal and specialists around the building. When they catch kids doing the right thing, or (through) positive office referrals, that’s how they earn. And the books, they get to keep.”
Ratcliff, in her second year as media specialist at the school, also designed the machines to include the Hot Springs School District logo as well as the IB logo.
Park Magnet Principal Kristal Brandon said the schools purchased the machines through a Successful Outcomes for Arkansas Readers grant. Receiving the grant at the height of the covid-19 pandemic, she said there were two major goals they hoped to accomplish: increase effective literacy instruction and acquire instructional materials for the district’s kindergarten boot camp before the start of school.
“Our district decided to change up things a little bit once we got our [American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief] funds,” Brandon said. “So they took on the responsibility of the financial part of our boot camp and our school, along with the other schools, we decided to write an addendum and we put in the book vending machines.”
“We wanted to incentivize reading, you know? ‘How can we get more books in our kids’ hands?’ “How can we do something fun?’ Everybody wants to get something out of a vending machine. And so that’s kind of how that kind of came about, and we were able to find a company that could work with us, work with branding, make sure that we had what we needed.”
The district received more than $19,000 through grant funding, of which the book machines used only a small portion, she noted. Along with the one at Park Magnet, Main Street installed two in its building.
At Main Street, students will be able to earn coins, or tokens, in two ways. The first is through positive behavior. If a student earns a positive office referral, they will be able to earn a coin. The second way is by improving their reading goals. If a student meets or exceeds their reading goal, they will receive a coin.