Free Audio Books Available for Students All Summer

Starting on April 25 and running through August 1, students can access two free audio books each week through the website Sync: Audiobooks for Teens. The weekly offerings include young adult books, adult novels, and classic texts.  Some of this summer’s titles are Swing by Kwame Alexander, All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater, Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry, Gulp by Mary Roach, and The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee.

New Reading Club Launches at West

On Wednesday, April 17, the Belleville West chapter of the Project LIT Community held its inaugural meeting.  The club is committed to promoting high-interest books by diverse authors.  Students met in the BW Library for lunch, a trivia contest, book discussions, and prizes.  This year’s book selections were all novels in verse: Crossover by Kwame Alexander, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo.  The group’s adviser is English teacher Ms. Soune Ursani.

Students can Share Gently-Used Books for Summer Reading

Belleville West Students Pass Four Million Pages in Fifth Triad

Once again this year, the BW English Department challenged the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes to each read ONE MILLION PAGES of pleasure reading during the school year.  With one triad remaining in the year, how are our four classes doing?

At the end of the fifth triad, the FRESHMAN CLASS maintains a strong lead with 1,382,905 pages!  At this rate, the freshman class can read more than any other class in the history of the challenge! The freshmen read 282,811 pages in the fifth triad, an average of 508 pages per freshman.  These freshman classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the fifth triad:

Ms. Ursani—seventh hour:  1187 pages per student

Ms. Ursani—fifth hour:  1091 pages per student

Mr. Garland—third hour:  871 pages per student

Ms. Comley—sixth hour:  842 pages per student

Mrs. Hunter—seventh hour:  841 pages per student

Ms. Ursani—sixth hour:  756 pages per student

Ms. Thurnau—second hour:  683 pages per student

Ms. Thurnau—first hour:  612 pages per student

At the end of the fifth triad, the SENIOR CLASS has also passed the goal, with 1,009,710 pages of pleasure reading!  The seniors read 204,437 pages of pleasure reading in the fifth triad, an average of 480 pages per senior.  These senior classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the fifth triad:

Mr. Lodle—sixth hour:  1724 pages per student

Ms. Thurnau—seventh hour:  1209 pages per student

Mrs. Story—fourth hour:  952 pages per student

Ms. Guebert—sixth hour:  834 pages per student

Ms. Guebert—third hour:  504 pages per student

The JUNIOR CLASS remains in third place, with 856,883 pages of pleasure reading—which means that they’re back on pace to reach the goal this year.  The juniors read 189,551 pages of pleasure reading in the fifth triad, an average of 381 pages per junior.  These junior classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the fifth triad:

Ms. Chalmers—fourth hour:  774 pages per student

Mr. Brunner—sixth hour:  753 pages per student

Mr. Schobert—third hour:  680 pages per student

Mr. Garland—sixth hour:  578 pages per student

Mr. Schobert—sixth hour:  574 pages per student

Mr. Brunner—first hour:  562 pages per student

Mr. Garland—first hour:  534 pages per student

The SOPHOMORE CLASS is still in fourth place, with 776,036 pages of pleasure reading.  The sophomores read 161,838 pages in the fifth triad, an average of 347 pages per sophomore.  (In order to reach the goal, the sophomores need to read 225,000 pages in the final triad.)  These sophomore classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the fifth triad:

Ms. Schloesser—second hour:  894 pages per student

Mr. Johnson—second hour:  691 pages per student

Ms. Schloesser—first hour:  605 pages per student

Mrs. Pettus—third hour:  569 pages per student

The teachers in the ENGLISH DEPARTMENT read 23,116 pages in the fifth triad, their best triad this year and an average of 1156 pages per English teacher.

Can the freshmen record the greatest total of all time this year?  Can the seniors catch them?  Can the juniors stay on pace?  Can the sophomores put up their best numbers of the year in order to reach the goal?  Visit the library, find some good books, and keep reading!