by Lisa Miller, Secondary School Teacher Librarian -

The more children read, the more the world opens up to them. To excite and encourage our students to read more, the Library and classroom teachers teamed up to get those pages turning!

Beginning in early November, every book a student in Grade 3 to 6 read became a section of a colourful bookworm that we hoped would wend its way around classrooms and into the Pod areas. Student volunteers were kept very busy cutting out paper circles! In Grade 7 and 8, each book became part of a tower of lolly sticks on the Library walls.

Of course, our students being such extraordinary people, got into the spirit of the friendly competition and increased their reading significantly. As a result, our Bookworms became longer and longer and longer and our stick towers got higher and higher - providing students with a visual representation of their reading adventure.

When the challenge finished in mid December, every class had improved their reading rates. In six weeks, Grades 3 to 6 had read over 3,600 books, while Grade 7 and 8 (who weren’t allowed to count their class reading) had read over 550!

It was a great inaugural Reading Challenge and next year it will be even better.

AND...

THE LONGEST WORMS BELONG TO...

Grade 3 -- Way to go RED HOUSE!!

Grade 4 -- Way to go 4-8

Grade 5 -- Way to go 5-1

Grade 6 -- Way to go 6-9

THE CLASSES THAT CAN SAY THEY READ MORE THAN ANY OTHER CLASS ARE..

Grade 7 -- Way to go 7-9

Grade 8 -- Way to go 8-8

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