3rd Graders Vote to Read
by Jill Ermitage
This year, third grade students at River Valley have participated in the Monarch Award program for Illinois. Students all over the state in grades K-3 hear, as read-alouds, the selected books. Then they are given the opportunity to vote for their favorite. Mrs. Kelliher, our LRC assistant, has been reading to the students on every day 6. Students voted for their favorite book the week of February 11th. Some of their favorites included The SOS File, Miss Daisy Is Crazy!, Bad Kitty, and Hi, Fly Guy! Our school’s winning book was If I Built a Car. The Monarch Award winning book for the state of Illinois will be announced some time in March.
Another reading program the students are participating in this year is a Caldecott read-aloud with Mrs. Sifling, our school librarian. The Caldecott Medal is given each year for a book with outstanding illustrations. Mrs. Sifling has been reading some of the award winning and honor books from past years to expose the students to wonderful literature and different styles of illustration. Some of the author/illustrators the students have seen so far are Robert McCloskey, William Steig, and Tomie DePaola. Mrs. Sifling reads from the Caldecott list approximately twice a month and will continue through the month of April.
With the help of our LRC librarian and assistant, third graders are surrounded by quality literature experiences. What a wonderful way to get students excited about reading different books!
