Grassy Pond class wins again

Grassy Pond Elementary third graders in teacher Terri Bridges' class celebrate Tuesday upon learning their class received $50 for the most popular Roll Call extension. Roll Call checks seemed to find a permanent home in the classroom of Grassy Pond Elementary third grade teacher Terri Bridges this year.

Bridges had the most popular Roll Call extension every month of the school year, which will end June 6. As an incentive to increase participation, The Gaffney Ledger has awarded $50 each month for the past five years to the teacher with the most calls each month to their Roll Call extension.

Roll Call is an automated phone system that provides an easy way for students and parents to receive updated information about homework assignments, lunch menus, school announcements and reminders about important activities. County teachers have their own extension number to update their messages on a daily basis.

Bridges has stuck to the same formula with Roll Call for the past several years.

She assigns students a math word problem to solve every week. Daily clues are left on her Roll Call extension that students can use to help solve the math problem.

Students who bring in the correct answer on Friday get a treat.

The math problems provide students with extra practice so they can improve their math skills. It offers another reason for students to call Bridges' Roll Call extension so they can keep up with homework assignments and receive important classroom reminders.

Bridges received 354 calls on her Roll Call extension in April.

"I do the same thing each month. The extra practice has helped my students in solving math word problems," Bridges said. "I will use the money from Roll Call so my students can do something fun before the school year ends."

Roll Call is part of News Talk 24, a voice information system operated in North and South Carolina by The Phoenix Marketing Group in Huntersville, N.C. The Gaffney Ledger receives a monthly report on calls received for each extension number.

In addition to school extension numbers, Roll Call has a time and temperature extension line that provides updated weather information each day.

Poll questions included in the Weekly Ledger were a popular item on Roll Call in April. The newspaper received a large volume of calls from residents responding to voter preference questions.

The Roll Call number is 4890060. The service is made possible through the sponsorship of local businesses listed on The Gaffney's Ledger Roll Call page in Monday editions throughout the school year.