BRUCETON MILLS — Vending machines typically dispense snacks, but the one in Bruceton School’s cafeteria spits out food for the brain.
Students earn tokens in class, which are put into the machine in exchange for a book to take home, Principal Jonas Knotts explained at Tuesday’s grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The hope is the vending machine makes reading a reward rather than a chore, said instructional coach Sophia Tichenor.
She discovered the machine while browsing around online. Knotts said it was a great idea and a unique way to get books into kids’ hands.
“Our library here is staffed through volunteers. And with COVID, the last two years, basically, that took all the volunteers out of the school, which essentially shut the library down,” Knotts said.
The vending machine cost about $6,000 and was funded by boosters, Knotts said.
So far it’s been a hit, especially with middle school students, Tichenor said. Knotts explained at first they were blasé about the whole thing — but once they saw what was inside and their friends started getting tokens, attitudes changed.
The 20 vending spaces are filled with a variety of books for all of the school’s grade levels, pre-K-8. One row is dedicated exclusively to the I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis.
It’s one of the most-popular series. Both 12-year-old Crosby Shaffer and 11-year-old Callen Knox said they intended to get one from that series. Shaffer said she likes reading about the adventures and looking at the pictures in the I Survived books.
Kindergarten teacher Arielle Price said her classroom has a library of books, but the kids get excited when they see the vending machine all lit up with a bunch of fun choices.
It’s definitely made it easier to get kids to read, she said.
“Even some of the most-reluctant readers and the ones that don’t generally love reading, or aren’t super into it in class, have been really excited to earn tokens and get to take a book home,” Price said.
She hands tokens out based on behavior, academic success, or even if a kid is just having a struggle day and needs a lift in spirits.
“There’s so many studies on the importance of reading to your kids and kids reading at an early age,” Price said. “If they’re being read to just that vocabulary expansion. And getting them reading for fun teaches them how to read for information as they get into older grades.”
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