 |
|
COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
|
| Mountain View Elementary School sixth-grader and book club member Amanda Marie Heck searches for her next book inside the school library. |
Mountain View students find reading more than fundamental
It’s lunchtime at Mountain View Elementary School and hundreds of students are eating lunch and then going out to the playground to run, jump and play to their hearts’ content. But something different is happening with 22 students in the library 3 Wednesdays out of the month.
Instead of grabbing the monkey bars in the sandbox or enjoying a game of foursquare on the blacktop, the group of 5th and 6th graders picked up their lunch and hurried to the library to take part in “Bookmarks,” a student book club at Mountain View in its first year.
“I had no idea it would be this successful,” said Caroline Goss, Mountain View school librarian. “We meet 3 Wednesdays a month and on the 4th Wednesday when we don’t meet, the kids are disappointed. Sometimes I’ll tell them when we finish up that they still have 10 minutes left for recess but the kids don’t want to go.”
“Bookmarks” began at Mountain View back in November after 22 students were selected from an original pool of 45 entries. One of the requirements for applying for the book club was that the candidates had to be in 5th or 6th grade due to the reading material and the discussion aspect of the club.
An avid reader who takes delight in literature, Mountain View 5th grader Kellianne Denison was not at the drawing that took place last fall where 22 names were drawn for book club membership. Yet the 5th grader was excited when she received the news that she had been chosen.
“When they told me I was really happy because I wanted to be in the club,” Kellianne said. “I’ve been here since kindergarten and it is so nice to have something like this.”
When 6th grader Andrea Real first found out about the book club, she wasted no time in getting to the library and signing up. Andrea’s name eventually became one of the 22 that were drawn.
“There were signs all around the school about the book club,” the Chicken Soup of the Soul reader recalled. “So I ran all the way over to the library to sign up when I saw it. I think it’s really good to have a book club on campus. I’d rather be reading than playing outside at lunchtime.”
 |
|
COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
|
| Mountain View Elementary School librarian Caroline Goss reads to members of the “Bookmark” book club during lunch. |
With one of the purposes of the club being to expose students to various types of books, Ms. Goss has implemented a genre wheel that students spin when they are picking out a new book to read. The 8 selections on the wheel are mystery, folk tales, realistic fiction, science fiction, biography, medal winners, historical fiction and picture books.
“One of the goals is to have the students read outside their comfort zones,” Ms. Goss explained.
Another goal for the students is to see how many books they can read by the end of the school year. There is a chart in the library with the club members’ names with stickers indicating how many books they have read up to the present time. Each meeting, the chart is updated as the students continue to make progress.
“I enjoy reading and learning about different things,” said Shelley Hunter, a 6th grader. “I like to learn about ancient times and the pyramids and I also like books on things that are scary.”
Shelley’s enthusiasm toward reading is shared by fellow Mountain View student Adrian Rock.
“I like to read a lot,” the 5th grader said. “Almost every day I’m asking my mom to get more books. I’m into fantasy and science fiction.”
Currently, the club is reading The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs and is doing a project themed “The Seven Wonders of Claremont” in conjunction with the book. Other books that are on the list for the students to read and vote on are Each Little Bird That Sings and Worth.
With the Claremont Unified School District seeking student input on books that will ultimately be selected to incorporate within school curriculum, Ms. Goss believes that the book club is one way to include as much student input as possible.
“It’s a way to get these books read,” she said. “With the book club, it gives more students a chance to read the books that are recommended to us and for their vote to really count. The more kids are involved in reading these books, the more that the voting will mean something.”
—Landus Rigsby
