April is National Poetry Month

April marks the celebration of National Poetry Month.  At Belleville West, English classes will observe the month by incorporating poetry studies, composition of original poetry, spoken word poetry, and a poem-of-the-day for each class day.

March Madness Ends this Week

In celebration of March Madness, the BW English Department is sponsoring a contest for students to select their favorite book from the BW Library.  Each week in March, students can vote for their favorite books by visiting this link.  Every student who participates will be entered in a drawing, with the prize winners announced at the end of the month.

This week, the final two books face off:  The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D Jackson.  The deadline for voting is this Friday, March 22.

BW Students Near Three Million Pages of Pleasure Reading

At the start of the 2023-2024 academic year, the BW English Department challenged the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes to each read ONE MILLION PAGES of pleasure reading during this school year.

The SENIOR CLASS finished the third quarter with 623,560 pages.  They read 207,377 pages of pleasure reading during the third quarter.  That’s an average of 650 pages per senior.  These senior classes read the most pages per student:

Mr. Lodle, first hour – 2277 pages

Mr. Lodle, second hour – 994 pages

Ms. Thurnau, seventh hour – 873 pages

Ms. Schaab, fourth hour – 817 pages

Mr. Reidelberger, seventh hour – 743 pages

Ms. Thurnau, fifth hour – 722 pages

Mr. Johnson, first hour – 714 pages

Ms. Short, second hour – 529 pages

Mr. Brunner, fifth hour – 488 pages

Ms. Schaab, fifth hour – 429 pages

Ms. Short, second hour – 408 pages

The JUNIOR CLASS finished the third quarter with 723,643 pages.  They read 283,357 pages of pleasure reading during the third quarter—their best number so far this year!  That’s an average of 659 pages per junior.  These junior classes read the most pages per student:

Ms. Guebert, fourth hour – 1876 pages

Mr. Garland, fifth hour – 1436 pages

Mr. Spriggs, sixth hour – 917 pages

Mr. Schobert, fifth hour – 904 pages

Mr. Schobert, sixth hour – 893 pages

Ms. Hodson, fifth hour – 846 pages

Mr. Brunner, first hour – 822 pages

Ms. Guebert, seventh hour – 756 pages

Ms. Hodson, seventh hour – 745 pages

Mr. Schobert, first hour – 661 pages

SOPHOMORE CLASS finished the third quarter with 780,931 pages.  They read 383,377 pages of pleasure reading during the third quarter—their best number so far this year!  That’s an average of 837 pages per sophomore.  These sophomore classes read the most pages per student:

Ms. Schlich, fifth hour – 5186 pages

Ms. Schloesser, sixth hour – 1766 pages

Mr. Johnson, fifth hour – 1194 pages

Ms. Hodson, third hour – 1070 pages

Ms. Schloesser, seventh hour – 992 pages

Ms. Schlich and Ms. Schloesser, first hour – 760 pages

Mr. Johnson, fourth hour – 738 pages

Ms. Hodson, first hour – 614 pages

Mr. Johnson, second hour – 556 pages

Mr. Jenkins, seventh hour – 549 pages

The FRESHMAN CLASS finished the third quarter with 793,628 pages.  They read 325,631 pages of pleasure reading during the third quarter—their best number so far this year!  That’s an average of 720 pages per freshman.  These freshman classes read the most pages per student:

Ms. Schaab, first hour – 2219 pages

Mrs. Coyne, second hour – 2183 pages

Ms. Thurnau, first hour – 1330 pages

Ms. Thurnau, third hour – 1332 pages

Ms. Mims, sixth hour – 909 pages

Ms. Thurnau, second hour – 883 pages

Ms. Mims, fifth hour – 805 pages

Mrs. Coyne, sixth hour – 692 pages

Ms. Mims, seventh hour – 671 pages

Ms. Guebert, sixth hour – 617 pages

Mrs. Short, sixth hour – 577 pages

Ms. Guebert, third hour – 549 pages

In the third quarter, the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors all read more pages than any previous quarter in the year!  The juniors read 25,000 pages more in the third quarter than they did in the second quarter.  The freshmen read 47,000 pages more in the third quarter than they did in the second quarter.  The sophomores read 173,000 pages more in the third quarter than they did in the second quarter.

Can these classes reach one million pages before the end of the year!  Yes!  For the freshman class, each student needs to read just 50 pages per week.  For the sophomore class, each student needs to read just 53 pages per week.  For the junior class, each student needs to read just 71 pages per week.  (Senior class, you’ll need to pick up the pace.  Each student needs to read 130 pages per week.)

Visit the library, find some good books, and keep reading!