Milford Elementary School’s new vending machine is satisfying students’ hunger for learning and imagination.
This vending machine, gifted to Milford’s TeamMates program by the READ Nebraska grant, dispenses books to students for free. All elementary students are eligible to earn one token for the machine each semester by completing their semester reading goal.
The students keep track of their at-home reading on a calendar, and each grade has a different reading goal. For example, second graders must read 300 minutes and third graders must read 350 minutes.
“We just feel like everybody can benefit from books, whether they're in TeamMates or not in TeamMates,” said TeamMates co-coordinator and second-grade teacher Charity Roth. “It's just about getting books in their hands and that a lot of kids don't have a bunch of books at home. We take it for granted when we think they do. It’s just giving that love of learning back.”
The vending machine, located in the hallway outside of the lunchroom, contains books that range from kindergarten to sixth-grade reading levels. The books are numbered and the vending machine has a keypad, so students can choose the book they want the same way they would choose a snack from a typical vending machine.
The school got the machine last fall and had students begin working toward their reading goals. They received their tokens when the semester ended, and the school opened the machine for all 75 students who earned them to use on Jan. 13.
A Patrick Mahomes book was by far the most popular amongst the kids.
Roth said the students loved getting books from the machine, and their reactions were precious. One first grader told her it was “The best day ever.”
According to Linked2Literacy, living in a home filled with books helps children build their vocabulary, increase their awareness and comprehension and expand their horizons. This can positively impact their future and career success.
In fact, the difference in reading habits between children who meet the grade-level benchmarks and those who do not amounts to just six additional minutes of reading per day. Kids who read 20 minutes each day are likely to score better than 90% of their peers on standardized tests.
“The world is changing, and we just want to get as many kids reading as much as possible,” Roth said. “Kids are so busy with sports and other activities, and so we just want them, out of school time, to read as much as they can.”
Milford Elementary students are now working on their second-semester reading goals, and those who meet them will get to pick a book from the machine in April. Roth said, after seeing all the fun and excitement of the book vending machine, she would not be surprised if even more students earn tokens this semester.
Brittany Volkmer, TeamMates co-coordinator and literacy coordinator for Milford, said she is looking forward to using the book vending machine to help more kids get excited about literacy and foster a lifelong love of reading within them.
“It’s having that book vending machine in our hallway and just seeing kids be excited about books and wanting to work towards a goal of earning a book,” she said. “It’s something different than just checking out a book from the library, but working towards a goal and having the reward via book is exciting to us in education.”
