While it’s currently not possible to travel the world due to the pandemic, that hasn’t stopped some students from learning about new places at home through exciting and informative books.
Not only are the students in Holy Trinity Catholic School Division taking imaginary rides through the pages and building their literacy skills, but they are also competing for prizes, as part of this year’s Battle of the Books. The division has used this yearly event to bring together its readers to celebrate great books with family and friends.
The pandemic challenged division administration to find new and innovative ways to engage students and families and build their excitement about reading, explained learning consultant Stacey Moser.
Schools recently celebrated Family Literacy Day, which had the theme of “Travel The World Together!” Holy Trinity launched its adapted multi-week Battle of the Books contest during this provincial activity.
“Even though we may not be doing a lot of travelling this year, we are still able to explore new worlds, meet new characters and go on exciting adventures by getting lost in a great book,” she said. “We know the love of reading begins at home, so this year, HTCSD’s reading initiative wanted to invite families to snuggle up with a great book.”
There are dozens of books that students can read as part of the contest. The division office added extra copies to school libraries, while families were also encouraged to access them on digital platforms Libby and Hoopla or through the public libraries in Moose Jaw and Swift Current.
As part of the reading challenge, kids have been encouraged to read a book, love it, complete an online activity about what they read, and then submit a secret code to then receive a stamp in their digital passport, Moser explained. Thanks to the SaskTel Pioneers’ efforts to support young readers, each stamp enters students into a draw to win more books at home. This includes books that are autographed by Bill Nye the Science Guy.
On the web page of the division’s reading initiative — aptly named Let’s Travel The World Together — there is a link to each book’s online activity, as well as a QR code in the back of the books in the libraries.
“We hope students and families will have fun reading the (books) and completing the activities together. Our hope is that, through this project, families and students may find a new favourite book, author or series,” said Moser.
The division has received great responses about this contest since it launched the initiative a few weeks ago, while it has been exciting to see how quickly the secret codes are coming in, Moser continued. She pre-delivered some prizes to the schools — with support from the Pioneers and the Moose Jaw Literacy Network — while she then sends updates to those schools about who the weekly winners are.
“The kids are having fun reading and completing the online activities … so we will keep this up all year if need be,” Moser added. “I told the schools that I will collect the books at the end of June, so hopefully everyone will get a chance to read any book they want. When our kids get excited about reading, everyone wins.”
