If you haven’t been able to pick up a book yet this year, the school library has you covered.
The library has introduced “Culture of Reading,” an event encouraging students to check out their own independent reading book before Sept. 8 for a chance to win a “small, yet fabulous prize pack,” according to school media specialist Cynthia Stogdill.
Stogdill’s idea was to encourage students to choose their own high-interest reading material.
“The one thing that we know is when students read independently outside of class, they do better academically. It supports one of our building goals for ACT growth, because when students read independently, they just learn to acquire the perseverance to stick with a reading selection and really understand it; and when they go to take a test, they really understand it and really understand what it’s talking about, because they have that experience of just reading,” Stogdill said.
Aside from the schoolwide goal for ACT growth, Stogdill also had other reasons for encouraging students to read.
“[W]e can kind of just get kids thinking about the library to just expand their reading. I have a couple of different avenues so that we can create a culture of kids reading at our school. We have great readers, we have great kids; I just really want to expand and bring that into the forefront. Plus, it’s the library, so I just want more kids to know what great books we have here.”
According to Stogdill, a lot of students lose their love for reading before hitting high school.
“Somewhere between the end of elementary and middle school and into high school, kids lose that love for reading. I just want to remind them that if they love to read, there’s still time for that in their day; and if they don’t love to read, it’s never too late to discover that love of reading,” she said.
The library also has new book additions this year to give students more of a selection when choosing their independent reading. These new titles include, but aren’t limited to “Four the Road” by K.J Reilly, “The Umbrella House” by Colleen Nelson, and “The Ivies” by Alexa Donne.
