Goodnight students win first place in national audio book reading competition

Goodnight Middle School students in the class of Connie Martin-Thompson were recently named the winners of a seven-week national reading competition, GREAT READING GAMES, sponsored by learning Alley.

The competition began three years ago as a means to get students to read audio books. This is the first year Goodnight has been ranked number one, though the school has placed highly each year.

In the first 10 days of the competition, Goodnight placed first for eight consecutive days, reading more pages than any other school. “Each morning, I run the report provided to me by Learning Ally, post it outside my room, and take great pride knowing Goodnight is first in this competition. We are starting week three of our competition; we may not stay here long, but it’s nice knowing we are there now. We plan to keep reading the next five weeks to try to hold on to our position in first place,” Martin-Thomas said then.

Goodnight sixth graders (from left) Ethan Reeves, Amery Ramirez and Eden Mendez.

Learning Ally is the only human voice-activated audio reading program for children with disabilities. Learning Ally provides the service for free to students with dyslexia and or reading disabilities. “I am very proud of my students love for reading and they initiate reading at home and at school,” Martin-Thompson said.

The first year of the competition two students, Nathan Kinsey and Shelly Backus, received national recognition. Both are avid readers today. Last year, Justine Hernandez was second in the nation and this year, Goodnight’s top reader is seventh grader Jarren Villalobos.

Martin-Thompson is the Dyslexia Specialist and the 504 Coordinator at Goodnight Middle School. This is her 29th year in the San Marcos CISD.