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Bicentennial Elementary teachers outline reading plan, makerspace and volunteer programs to boost literacy
Summary
Teachers and the school’s library media specialist told the Board of Education about intentional steps at Bicentennial Elementary to increase reading engagement and foundational skills, including donor-funded decodable text, a phonics pilot, volunteers to support repeated reading, a Run-and-Read after-school club and library makerspace projects.
Bicentennial Elementary staff on Monday told the Moline Coal Valley School District Board of Education they are combining data-driven instruction with hands-on, community-supported activities to build students’ confidence and enthusiasm for reading.
The presentation summarized classroom and schoolwide efforts to raise both proficiency and engagement so students “love reading,” the school’s instructional coach said.
School leaders described why it matters: students who see themselves as readers practice more, choose books independently and participate in class activities that require reading comprehension and discussion. That, presenters said, supports both state testing goals and broader instructional priorities.
Teachers said their approach is intentionally collaborative: educators analyze MAP and classroom data, identify curriculum gaps and add supplemental texts and materials that better engage students. Staff piloted a foundational-skills phonics program (referred to in presentations as UFLY Phonics) and, after noticing a need for manipulatives, obtained donor funds to buy magnetic letters, whiteboards and markers for kindergarten and first grade.
To get children reading and practicing regularly, Bicentennial staff said they used a Moline Public Schools Foundation grant to buy decodable texts for early readers and recruited volunteers to read with younger students. “These books have really been a game changer for them because they’re able to apply the knowledge into text and they’re excited because now they see themselves as readers,” an instructional coach said.
Presenters described classroom strategies such as flex grouping, word-study interventions (used proactively in some classrooms as tier‑1 instruction), literature-based inquiry projects, Socratic seminars in upper grades, recurring paragraph writing prompts and book clubs. The library media specialist described makerspace activities tied to grade-level science units — for example, building Rube Goldberg–style machines during a unit on forces and energy and hosting an author visit by Sarah Aronson in connection with that work.
Outside-school programming included a Run-and-Read club that pairs short outdoor exercise with shared reading time, and coordinated events with the neighboring Robert R. Jones Public Library (flyers, registered programs and shared STEM materials). Staff said the district library expansion (recent hiring of an additional library teacher) allowed more school-to-library collaboration.
School staff invited the board and community to visit and read with students; they also requested continued support for volunteers and small grants that fund hands-on materials and decodable collections.
The presentation included examples of student outcomes (teachers cited a classroom where 13 of 15 students who received a targeted intervention made strong growth on local assessments) and several anecdotal student comments about increased confidence reading aloud.
Board members heard the presentation during the student-spotlight portion of the meeting; no formal board action was requested at that time.
