could not surpass the “quick-on-thebuzzer” Culpeper team. The score

could not surpass the “quick-on-thebuzzer” Culpeper team. The score was Culpeper 28, Rappahannock 11. Ms. Rowe presented a bookmark to each member on the winning team. After the competition the fourth period home economics class provided refreshments for both schools’ contestants. “Even though we lost I think it was a good learning experience for everybody involved,” commented Mrs. Deb Mills, reading lab instructor.

Captain Charles Slaughter told about his duties as team captain. “Mrs. Mills selected me because I’m calm. I had to use the buzzer and tell the answers to Ms. Rowe. I had to answer the question calmly and not be rude.” Student John Grigsby stated, “Being in the contest and studying newspapers will help me in the future to find things in the paper. I’ll know where* to look for certain things. If I want to buy something I’ll know to look in the classified ad section. I’ll know where important things are that I’m interested in.” Mrs. Mills explained how the contest was formed. She and Ms. McCay, Culpeper Junior High remedial reading instructor, took a master’s degree class together. “We both found out that we had our students read newspapers daily and so we decided to have a contest. As far as we know no one has ever done this before.” Plans for the contest were discussed during the summer and a contest was held in Culpeper last fall and Rappahannock won. The contestants were eighth graders because this was the class that Mrs. Mills and Ms. McCay had in common. Top students or students who had a desire to compete were members of the panel while other classmates gave moral support.

Mrs. Mills said, “Anybody who wanted to play was given the opportunity. I think it’s great that these kids could compete in an academic situation.” The students applied listening skills, comprehension skills, categorization skills, and verbal skills. Mrs. Mills explained, “Since I’ve been using the papers, for four or five years, I really feel their reading skills have gotten much better. We read the Culpeper paper four days a week and the Rappahannock paper one day.” Mrs. Mills continued, “They have to write an article once a week, read it, and give the main idea for it. It lets us know whether they really understand the article. I think that reading a newspaper is one of the survival skills that everyone has to have.” Mrs. Mills concluded by saying, “Funds are going to be cut drastically and newspapers cost money. Therefore, I don’t know that we’ll be able to continue with this type of curriculum. The biggest bulk of my program is newspapers. I would love to see something from somewhere to happen so we can continue reading our newspapers.”