TR PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY – William Hollingsworth (front) selects a book with Tristan Davis and Viviana Nunez-Cardoso at the MCSD Orpheum Welcome Center Thursday afternoon. The free books were made possible by a federal Reading is Fundamental grant.
For the second year in a row, elementary students from the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) who attended Bobcat University over the summer had the opportunity to grab a few free books as a token of appreciation for their efforts, thanks to a federal grant through the Reading is Essentials program.
The children had three opportunities to stop by the Orpheum Welcome Center and select up to ten of their favorite or future favorite books, with both English and Spanish options available. After selecting their books, they were also able to watch a screening of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a famous book adaptation.
On Thursday afternoon, MCSD Superintendent of Instruction Shauna Smith spoke about the importance of encouraging reading and maintaining the year-round learning cycle for all students.
“A lot of research shows that the more books students have available at home, the more likely they are to be good readers by third grade,” she said. “So it’s a really cool program that you can do several years in a row. If students were with us last year, they’d have 10 books added to their home library, and then it starts again. So they might have 20, and we’ll keep going and they’ll continue on to Bobcat University, our summer school learning program, and they’ll just continually add to their library.”
Smith added that Eric Litwin’s “Pete the Cat” series was especially popular with younger readers, as the kindergarten class browsed through it when it was their turn to pick out books. Litwin is making an author visit to Marshalltown during the 2023-2024 school year.
“It’s just interesting to see how the love of reading is ignited and how they connect the visit to the author four months later with the printed books,” Smith said.
And when a student sees a book in class or in the school library that he or she already has at home, he or she is ultimately more likely to make the connection and read it. Smith also wanted to make sure Erica Finders, director of curriculum and professional development for grades PK-6, was recognized for applying for and implementing the Reading is Fundamental grant.
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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or [email protected].
