International Bookgiving Day fuels kids’ imaginations

Students in Sarah Murray’s kindergarten class at Childs Elementary School exchanged books as a part of International Book Giving Day Thursday.

Each student brought a book and were instructed to pass them in a circle as Murray read “Splat the Cat.” Despite some confusion as to which way to pass the books and some students’ reluctance to give theirs up, each student ended up with a new story to take home.

Murray said she found out about the day when the school’s librarian, Judy Williams, encouraged teachers to participate. Williams has been working at Childs for 18 years, after she was a fifth and sixth-grade teacher for 13 years.

“She just, really in a positive way, said try to do something in your classroom,” she said.

Murray said the students love to read, despite the fact that many of them start school at different reading levels.

Murray uses “the Daily Five” to help students learn. The categories consist of reading to yourself, working on writing, reading to someone, listening to reading and word work. The class reads a lot of poetry and about five to six books each day as a group. Murray said this day helps students to learn that books are a treasure and to share these treasures with others.

“I though it was a success,” she said.

Amber Rabold’s third-grade class brought in used books to donate to Middle Way House. She said the kids were excited and able to collect about 40 books.

Rabold said the class made cards for people at Middle Way House because she wanted to teach them to help others.

Williams said she is also encouraging her students to participate in World Read Aloud Day March 6.

“I love the idea of sharing books with others,” Williams said. “We need to be a community of people.”

Reading creates a bond, she said.

It is important for her, she said, to find the right books to put in the kids’ hands.

“Right now, that’s my passion,” Williams said.

Williams said she loves when students tell her they loved a book. Reading can help them learn more about themselves and others, she added.

“It’s important because reading is critical to kids because reading enables them to see the world through a different lens,” she said.