Letter to editor, My name is Melanie Wood. I am the librarian/ tutor at the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Dormitory in Eufaula.

I have started a program called Facts for Snacks. This program is to promote education and learning in students in a fun and interactive way that provides them with incentives. All around the library, there are problems/questions for the students to answer. For each answer, they can earn a point. If they earn one point, they can get a piece of candy or chocolate. If they earn four points, they can earn either a soda or a bag of chips. Most of the students will try to answer multiple problems/questions and earn a soda, chips, and some candy.

The program has been so successful I wish that I could continue to self-fund, but I am pleased to say that the children love it so much they are eating all my supplies faster than I can buy them.

It is gratifying to see one student who normally will not apply himself to schoolwork throw himself into this program. He came by every evening and completed all of the challenges so he could have a snack. He left with a huge smile and a little bit of knowledge that would see him through life.

I am looking for partners to help sponsor this program.

Last year I expanded the snacks to include individual packs of trail mix, donuts, snack cakes, etc.

As a partner you would help me to have the ability to supply more sodas, individual snacks, and individually wrapped candy or chocolates.

I would love to provide fresh fruit also but have not been able to do that yet. I hope you see the merit of this program and decide to join me in the children’s success.

If you are interested in helping, please call me at 918-304-3340, M-F, 8-5 in the summer and 12-9 during the school year.

I will be posting a list of partners in the library, on Facebook and hopefully in the local paper.

The program

At the moment, ten questions are provided daily for them to answer. They can work together to answer the problems/ questions, Google them, or ask staff for help.

Here is a sample of the problems/questions that change daily: Vocabulary: Fractious- easily irritated or annoyed Homonyms: Ring- to encircle Wring- to squeeze State Information: What state is nicknamed the “Buckeye State?”

Prefixes/ roots/ suffixes: Oct- Latin- eight Temp- Latin- time ship- Anglo/Saxoncondition of, skill Math: Factorsof40 3/9 square of 12 Muscogee Language: Estelpikv vtehs Country information: Southeast Asia consists of two regions. It has four neighboring countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore. Its capital is Kuala Lumpur.

English grammar: The librarian Ms. Marshall said that James Michner’s best seller “Mexico” is so popular she can’t keep it on the shelf.

English mechanics: The local grocery store is having a sale on all their dairy products.

Trivia question: What language is spoken in Brazil?

For vocabulary and homonyms, they have to use the words correctly in a sentence. The prefixes/ roots/ suffixes have to be combined with other word parts to make a complete word.

The math problem has three parts. The first is to give the factors of 40, which are all the numbers that can be multiplied to equal 40, for the 3/9 they must give 3 equivalent fractions and the total of the square of 12.

The Muscogee word is to get them familiar with the language and pronunciation and to see if they know the meaning of the word or words. For the state and country’s information question, they need to supply the state or country that fits the clues. English grammar is a sentence that must show all the grammar mistakes.

English mechanics is identifying each part of speech in the sentence.

The trivia question is a question geared to their individual grade levels that they will have to answer once.

For the remaining part of the week, they will give a new fact that they look up for themselves pertaining to the trivia question.

Last year we had an average of 52 students in the dorm. I have loved creating this program and want to see it flourish and watch these children grow in knowledge and confidence.

Thank you for your time.

Mvto, Melanie Wood Librarian/Tutor Eufaula Dormitory