Elementary students at the Hettinger Public School practice reading aloud with volunteers from the community.
"Parents, grandparents and members of the community come in to listen to the kids. This is why our kids are so good at oral reading by the end of the year," said first grade teacher Sandy Marion.
Teachers Krista Warbis, grade 2, and Gwynne Smith, grade 3, also have volunteer listeners.
"They do it different days and may do it differently in each class," said Marion.
The reading program was started by Celie Buckmeier back in the 1980s. Volunteers have designated days to spend time in school.
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"It varies by teachers' schedules. We call them group leaders," she said. "I have one grandpa who started this year and he doesn't have a grandchild in school."
"A lot of 'adopted' grandparents come in the same day and then go for coffee. Some drive in from the country. They plan their shopping around this," she said.
With the declining enrollment, Marion said the students frequently have one-on-one help. The students have a folder of reading materials and work sheets as well as supplemental reading.
"They read everything in their folder," she said. "The grandparents take a chair beside their desks. About half way through, we do some exercises to get the wiggles out."
"I'm in a group too. This gives me a chance to listen to each child and work individually," she added.
Marion said it's important to read out loud.
"We work with fluency. We work with comprehension. Another nice thing about it is I can have them at different levels according to their reading ability," she said.
The volunteers are given tokens of appreciation for their service time. Marion makes spoons which are decorated with counted cross stitch pictures.
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"I have one grandma in her 14th year. She has 14 spoons," she said.
"It's such an open door thing. The parents and grandparents are so comfortable coming in," she said. "They know how their child is doing. They see how others are doing. It works very well that way," she said.
Hettinger elementary principal Lyn Hendry said the program was expanded into the second and third grades after she came to school eight years ago.
"It was pretty easy to determine that it made a difference," she said.
One year, a first grade teacher provided oral reading and the other didn't. The test scores revealed a huge difference, she said.
"We've passed every yearly progress report," she said. "It's a wonderful program and it makes a difference."
