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| Lexie Wells, left, and Sydney Hinthorn were “caught reading” at Valley View and had their picture taken under the giant’s cloud castle, next to Jack’s beanstalk! |
What tales do you remember from childhood? Any fables come to mind? How about folktales? Well, here at Valley View, we celebrated Idaho Family Reading Week during November with this year’s theme of “Tell me a Tale” featuring Jack and the Beanstalk.
We had a beanstalk with a giant climbing down it as a photo prop, and all the kids who were “Caught Reading” by their teachers had their pictures taken with it. Our week was filled with contests, readers, popcorn and read-ins.
Seventy-seven industrious students completed a story for our story contest. Each story started with the words “The night was cold and dark, and I couldn’t …”
They had to figure out what came next in their short story, and each one is unique! However, after reading all of them, I detected a common theme: kids do not like being lost and they don’t like the dark!
All of the stories have been included in a book, which will be available for check-out in the library.
During the week, we were visited by employees from nearby government agencies. They came by Monday and went into classes for 30 minutes to read and chat about their jobs and the importance of reading. The kids were very excited to see the officers in their uniforms and to have someone read to them.
Wednesday brought out the Mystery Readers, who were relatives of students or school employees past and present, and they also read to classes throughout the day.
By Thursday, we were ready for some more fun. Our PTO made popcorn for each class by noon, and then the parties began.
As far as we could tell, these were pretty quiet parties, because there was a lot of reading going on!
Our literacy events at Valley View are sponsored by the Bonners Ferry Rotary, the Lion’s Club, the Eagles Aerie, LiteHouse Dressing, Inc., Super One and Safeway. Our next event will be a visit from author Ms. Kelly Milner Halls. She will be with us January 24 for an entire day of assemblies and more!