BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

Dear Saint John’s School Families,

Our book fair last week was very definitely a success.  A big “thank you’ to Jen Metzler and Cindy Castaneda for cochairing this event.  We appreciate each of you volunteers who “manned the store” during the school day and during parent/teacher conferences.  Thank you also to all of our young/student customers for making their wise purchases.

How blessed we are here at Saint John’s School to have such dedication to and understanding of the importance of reading!  This is a value that we all share.  In addition to each of our classroom teachers, two very special staff members have developed two separate programs to enhance and support the daily instruction of reading.  Donna Monet and Sarah Smith are to be commended for all they have given to make reading a priority at Saint John’s. 

Donna Monet, our school’s librarian, was hired just at the right time to open our beautiful school library a few years ago.  With her experience and expertise, our library has become a most important center in our school.  Childrens’  “love of reading” can only grow with the opportunity to enjoy a library such as we have here. 

Please read on to learn the specifics of the Battle of the Books that our library  coordinates.   This is the fourth year that this voluntary reading incentive program is offered  for students in grades 3 and 4.  The purpose is to encourage students to read good books and have fun while competing with peers from other schools.  The library hosted an engraved traveling trophy for the school year 2011-2012, as a result of our fourth grade team winning the competition. 

How does a student participate? A student participates by reading from the book list provided for that years’ America’s Battle of the Books.  The books are 50% on, 25% above, and 25% below grade level of the participants.

What is the “Battle?”  A typical “Battle” is a tournament or game, like the College Bowl, in which students’ teams earn points by answering questions about the books on the book list.  They play several rounds, each against a different team.  At the end, points are totaled and the top teams are invited to a “Grand Battle”. 

Among the many contributions that Sarah Smith is responsible for bringing to Saint John’s School is the Accelerated Reading Program.  You may have noticed the Angry Birds bulletin board as you walk down the hall of the Elementary School.  This is our Accelerated Reader (AR) board  which tracks each student’s progress toward their trimester goals (grades 1-5).  AR helps motivate students to read and complements classroom teachings.  It is a great way to work with students at their own individual reading level set by their teacher.  They enjoy tracking their own progress on the bulletin board.  When students meet their AR goals by the end of the trimester and also have achieved an average of 85% or better on their quizzes (which means they get a sticker on their bird), they are treated to a special lunch that Sarah arranges with Mrs. Schmitt. 

Why AR?  1. Makes essential reading practice more effective for every student. 2. Personalizes reading practice to each student’s current level.  3.  Manages all reading activities including read to, read with and read independently. 4.  Builds a lifelong love of reading and learning. 

How does it work?  Student reads a book. Visit Arbookfind.com to see all available titles.  Student takes a quiz. Accelerated Reader Enterprise offers more than 140,000 quizzes to help motivate and monitor students’ reading performance. Student accumulates points. Depending on the level of the book and the performance of the student on the quiz, students earn points toward their goals set by their teacher. 

Thank you Donna and Sarah and all of you parents for making reading a top priority here at Saint John’s School.

Shalom, Lois Schmitt