Terrytown Elementary turned into a “Story Laboratory” for a week earlier this month to encourage students to take an interest in non-fiction.
“We want our students to learn that reading is about more than just stories,” said principal Christopher Joyce. “It’s about investigating and understanding information.”
In keeping with its science theme, the school set up displays around the library. One in particular was a periodic table. When a student bought a book, they then wrote down how many pages it has, its title, and why they were interested in the book.
Fifth grade students served as “Book Lab Technicians.”
“It was fun to help the little kids pick books and also to read to them,” said Technician Alexis Keating.
The book fair kicked off on a Saturday with a family day and the school sold more than $2000 worth of books on that day alone.
Events were held every day during the week. On Monday, participating classrooms decorated their doors as the cover of their favorite book. Students were allowed to bring dimes on Tuesday to wear a crazy hat, quarters on Wednesday to wear crazy glasses, and dollars on Thursday to dress like a nerd.
The activities culminated on Friday with a celebration for the door decoration contest winners.
Amy Millet’s kindergarten classroom won first place for their rendition of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and were awarded a pizza party. Second place went to Elayne Weiner’s fifth graders who chose “Wayside School” and were treated to popcorn. Julie Kleppner’s third graders placed third for their cover of “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” and they enjoyed popsicles.
According to Joyce, the school exceeded their fundraising goal and raised $5900, a good portion of which will go toward creating level libraries in the classrooms.