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Reading for fun: Case Avenue students, principal form book club By Courtney Anderson, Herald Staff Writer, 3/6/2007 SHARON — As most of the girls made their way to craft stations after a book club discussion last week in the library at Case Avenue Elementary School in Sharon, several stayed behind to keep talking with Principal Traci Valentino. Caitlynn Dugan was one of the girls who just wasn't quite ready to stop talking about "The Beacon Street Girls." The fifth-grader said she enjoys the book club — "Got Books? The Principal Does!" — started in December for fourth- through sixth-graders. Caitlynn said she reads all the time and particularly enjoys long chapter books like "The Beacon Street Girls" series. The girls just finished the second book, and Caitlynn got the third one as a reward for getting good grades. But she said she's not going to spoil the plot for other girls in the book club. Like the girls in the novel, Caitlynn and her classmates made blankets for children who might not have one. In the book, Caitlynn said, two characters curled up together under a blanket, talking and wondered what it would be like to grow up without a blanket to keep warm. So the characters began their community service project, which prompted the Sharon girls to make blankets for the Prince of Peace Center in Farrell. The school got a $5,000 grant through the Shenango Valley Foundation, Ms. Valentino said, and because many more students volunteered for the club than anticipated, cash has run out to buy the next book in the series. So the Case Avenue girls are busy coming up with fundraising ideas so they can continue on the journey with the Beacon Street crew. Ms. Valentino said former Sharon Superintendent Dr. Donna DeBonis is working on another grant application. Ms. Valentino said about 120 boys and girls are involved in the club, which meets monthly. The boys are reading a series called "Island," which involves boys working together after being shipwrecked, she said. It's the students' responsibility to read the books before the club gathers to talk about them, and Ms. Valentino said they come prepared with notes. The children get to keep the books for their home libraries, something Ms. Valentino said is important. The club has created a sense of community in the school, Ms. Valentino said, and as kids' ability to comprehend what they read increases, so will their test scores. "I believe children learn to read by reading," said Ms. Valentino. "The more they read the better they'll read." Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc. Photos  Students work on the floor of the Case Avenue Elementary library to make a blanket for the Prince of Peace Center in Farrell. The service project, modeled after one done in a book about "The Beacon Street Girls," is part of the Sharon school principal's book club.David E.Dale/Herald  Readers fill the library at Case Avenue Elementary Friday as they make blankets to donate to the Prince of Peace Center in Farrell as a project for the school book club. Fourth - through sixth-graders can participate in the group, which meets monthly to talk about the books, which the kids get to keep.David E. Dale/Herald |
