By WILL PERKINS
Glasgow News 1
As students enter a break in daily education, reading books is a way to avoid the “summer slide.” Throughout the school year, educators use various techniques and strategies to promote literacy. Red Cross Elementary used a bookmark contest to help cultivate students’ love for reading.
Kim Wyatt said this annual contest motivates students to design a bookmark with a theme that promotes reading.
“They usually use favorite characters or favorite books,” said Wyatt, library media specialist at Red Cross. She added that the winning bookmarks are printed, distributed to students and showcased around the school. “We post them on the bulletin board.
“They get excited. They want to show it off.”
Wyatt said the students “are so creative” with their designs, wording and pictures.
Secong-grader Avery Paull’s winning bookmark featured “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” She said she first became interested in the book when she was in kindergarten.
“I was obsessed with it,” she said with a big smile.
Paull said she enjoys reading new books because “you never know what’s going to happen.”
Avery Paull, a second-grader at Red Cross Elementary, poses with her winning bookmark that featured “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” Will Perkins/Glasgow News 1
James Lowe, a fourth-grader at Red Cross Elementary, poses with his winning bookmark that features a tractor plowing through books. Will Perkins/Glasgow News 1
James Lowe’s winning bookmark features a tractor that plows through books. The fourth-grader said his design was inspired by his experience “working on a farm pulling my tractors.”
“I like to read,” he said. “I like to go to school.”
Similar to Paull, Lowe said he enjoys reading new books because of the anticipation of what comes next.
“You never know what will happen in the story.”
Red Cross Elementary students who won the bookmark contest pose with their winning bookmarks. Photo courtesy of Barren County Schools
