Students hit the books
Published 6:33 pm Friday, December 17, 2010
GRANITE FALLS — The smiles on the faces of the first-graders in Christina Klepper’s class showed just how they felt about reading.
The students quickly lined up to get into a classroom filled with tables of books Thursday morning at Monte Cristo Elementary School. They told each other how excited they were as they stood in line for the school’s book giveaway.
Each student took his or her place behind tables filled with rows of picture and chapter books after entering the room. Some couldn’t resist the temptation in front of them. They flipped through the books while they waited for another first grade class to walk through and choose books to take home.
The books are collected by the Honor Society at Woodinville High School and donated to Monte Cristo Elementary. The first-graders are in charge of sorting the books, according to Kristen Bergeron, a first grade teacher.
Thousands of books have been donated over the course of four years. This year’s book drive brought in more than 1,000 books, which meant each student could choose multiple books to take home.
Students at Woodinville High heard about a need for books at Monte Cristo from one of the elementary’s now-former teachers and the Honor Society stepped up to lead the book drive, said Morgan Ackley, Woodinville’s Honor Society adviser.
“It has become a tradition ever year to donate books to the Monte Cristo Elementary School,” Ackley said.
Every year, first-graders invite other classes to the book giveaway and keep books stocked on every table as students walk through the room.
“(Wednesday) they got to pass out invitations, which was very exciting for them,” Klepper said. “They’re excited about being in charge of something.”
Sadie Chatelain, 7, helped to distribute books to the first-graders in Bergeron’s class. She likes to read chapter books and anticipated she might pick out a Junie B. Jones book when it was her turn to choose two.
“I’ll probably read them 20 times,” Sadie said.
When she isn’t reading her new books she’ll keep them stored on her bookshelf at home, she said.
Restocking the tables with books wasn’t an easy job, said Evan Campbell, 7. He thought choosing two books off the tables might be difficult, too.
“I saw one book I really liked. It was a ‘Toy Story’ book but somebody stole it,” he said. “I’m looking for a good book to read.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
