European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday april 16, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 9 education principal High on Reading students by Jimi Jones education writer bad Hersfeldt West Germany _ principal Oakley Mceachren wanted his 200 first through sixth readers to be better readers. So he promised them quarterly rewards. And for the past two quarters Mceachren has had to pay up. When the Bell rang recently at the tiny american elementary school tucked away in the Vogelsberg Mountain area of West Germany children a chatter drifted Down the hallway and out of the front doors. They gathered around the flagpole impatiently awaiting their payoff. The prize seeing the principal at the top of the 8-meter flagpole. A there he comes a one child screamed. Mceachren appeared wearing wild sunglasses and carrying a Teddy Bear. Youngsters surrounded him As he headed for the bucket of a Cherry picker a his elevator. He climbed aboard As the children chanted a up up  Mceachren had promised the children they would see him at the top of the pole if they read More than 90,000 minutes during the third school Quarter. The bad Hersfeldt bulldogs a a named they adopted last year a topped out at 93,473 minutes. A we did no to make it the first Quarter a said 12-year-old Ronnie Rivas. A we got an ice Cream treat for the second but most of the kids were Reading to see him up there. It was  a nah 1 thought he was going to stand on it Quot one kid in the crowd said when Mceachren reached the top. The Reward system was developed after the schools comprehensive tests Basic skills showed a we were a bit below the system Norm a Mceachren said. A so we put together a specific improvement plan to help the kids improve their  the three part plan involves teachers parents and the Parent teacher organization to. Teachers promote the drop everything and read program which enhances individual Reading within the classroom. A for 15 minutes each Day everybody in the school drops everything and reads a Mceachren said. Then there a the Reading at Home program in which parents sign slips indicating the number of minutes the children read each week. Numbers Are then tallied and posted. And through the Parent teacher group students get individual weekly newspapers to encourage Reading. There was a school wide Book fair in february and a picnic is being planned As the fourth Quarter Reward. Along with use of the Dodds Macmillan Reading program Mceachren Hopes that a when we get our test scores from the cubs in a month or so Well see some improved  the Macmillan program is a literature based approach that includes both the teaching of Reading skills and Reading for meaning in textbooks and Library or Trade books. A the theory is that the More spotlight you put on Reading the More kids will read a Mceachren said. A the More they read the better they  sixth Grade teacher Laura Mcdonough said the program already has a made a lot of difference with my kids. They Are More excited about Reading. It s hard to get kids to read nowadays when there Are so Many other things a like television and Nintendo she said. A a in be seen improvement in Oral Reading. It really has worked  there will be some changes next year however. A the whole year is too much a Mceachren said. A next year Well do one Quarter a six weeks of concentrated  although the program is a school Effort the class that compiles the most Reading minutes at Home each week gets the roving Bear a the Teddy Bear that Mceachren took up the flagpole with him. Mcdonough said she unintentionally shamed the 13 students in her sixth Grade class into competing. When the fifth Grade earned the Bear a i made a comment about them being the oldest kids in school and setting examples a she said. A they just picked up on that a she said and now have been the proud keepers of the roving Teddy for four consecutive weeks. A instead of going for a game they go for a Book. That s what i was trying to  although there a still a Quarter to go in the school year students already Are pondering stunts for Mceachren to do at the promised picnic. A maybe he could Wear his clothes backwards a they suggested. More education on pages 14 and 15classroom close ups amps. Jim Rotheim Nate gerhoff relays the adventures of Charlie Brown to attentive Kinder Sart ners from left Joshua gerhoff Kristen Mckiernen and Ashley Gerau. The eighth Grade student is a Volunteer Reader in Stephanie Whites classroom at the Aukamp elementary school in Wiesbaden West Germany. Sixth graders study outer space Tomato seeds a 1 a to _ re _ j the  it Urh is tvs n by Gary Miller Mediterranean Bureau Naples Italy a its the attack of the student Tomato watchers. Or so it seems each Day when Billie Powers sixth Grade science students enter the classroom to study their Tomato seeds from outer space. Most students race directly for a table covered with plastic foam cups. The Plain White cups contain soil and tiny plants that have sprouted from Normal seeds. But the red rimmed cups contain plants from seeds that experienced nearly six years of extreme temperatures weightlessness and the vacuum of space. The seeds had been aboard the Long duration exposure facility one of 57 experiments housed in the 11-ton satellite that was retrieved from orbit in january by the space shuttle Columbia and returned to Earth. Nasa distributed the 12.5 million Tomato seeds to teachers from the upper elementary to the University Levels including Powers classes at Naples elementary school. Along with the space seeds Nasa sent equal numbers of seeds that had been stored on Earth. A my husband saw an article in the stars and stripes about the program and i asked the students if they a be interested a Powers said. A they were really excited so 1 wrote Nasa. A science is one of the few Fields where we can offer kids of this age a hands on experience a she said. The students work with the seeds also gives them a new appreciation for the space program she said. A these children were born at the end of the a 70s. Space exploration is just a part of their  although Nasa distributed 180,000 seed kits Powers said she has not heard of any other department of defense dependents schools participating in the program. A i Hope we re the Only sixth Grade in Dodds Quot said student Josh sleight. A it will be interesting to see How the seeds  Powers four science classes planted the seeds March 19. There should be Flowers and fruit within eight to 10 weeks said student Julia Filz. So far More than 75 percent of the seeds have sprouted she said. The 100 students tend to and observe specific plants and have Given them names such As teenage mutant ninja Tomato. Once the plants grow to about 5 inches and develop More leaves they will be transplanted Julia said. Then students will be allowed to take their plants Home provided they sign contracts guaranteeing they will tend and Monitor them. A some of the students have volunteered to run the contract program and keep records of everything a Powers said. Those records will include weekly measurements As Well As the dates plants first Flower and Bear fruit. That information must be forwarded to Nasa by june 15. Students also arc on the Lookout for any mutations including variations in fruit size and color and unusual Stem and Leaf formations. The outer space seeds were exposed to cosmic radiation while in orbit but Nasa on Friday disputed a report that the seeds could produce poisonous fruit. A there is no Validity that this presents a Hazard to schoolchildren a William h. Kinard chief scientist for the Lone duration exposure facility said Friday in Washington. He called the report a unfounded and