Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors Head Home with Books for the Summer

As the school year closes, the Belleville West English Department is sending books home with all freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.  Through a combination of grants and fundraising, the department is providing copies of 40 different book titles for students so they can continue to read for pleasure over the summer.

As students finish books, they can exchange them with Belleville West friends, classmates, and neighbors.  They can also participate in book exchanges at the Belleville West Library from 10-11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 19, and Wednesday, July 17.  Readers can also share reviews of their books on Flip Grid.

BW Students Record 4.9 Million Pages of Pleasure Reading for 2018-2019

CONGRATULATIONS, BELLEVILLE WEST READERS!  As the 2018-2019 school year draws to a close, Belleville West students have read a grand total of 4,908,023 PAGES OF PLEASURE READING.

What does that mean?

If those pages were laid end-to-end, they would stretch over 658 MILES—that’s all the way from Belleville West to Toronto, Ontario!

If one person wanted to read that many pages, he or she would need to read one page every minute for NINE YEARS—and FOUR MONTHS INTO THE TENTH YEAR!  Without ever stopping to eat or sleep!

If you had one penny for every page read by a Belleville West student this year, you would have almost $50,000.

How did the classes stack up against each other?

The CLASS OF 2022 (the FRESHMAN class) read 1,661,194 pages of pleasure reading this year.  That’s an average of 2982 pages per freshman.

These freshman classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the sixth triad:

Mr. Garland’s third hour – 1259 pages per student

Ms. Thurnau’s first hour – 986 pages per student

Mr. Garland’s second hour – 950 pages per student

Ms. Ursani’s seventh hour – 749 pages per student

Ms. Ursani’s fifth hour – 696 pages per student

Ms. Thurnau’s second hour – 650 pages per student

Mrs. Pettus’s seventh hour – 559 pages per student

Mrs. Hunter’s seventh hour – 543 pages per student

Mrs. Pettus’s sixth hour – 542 pages per student

Ms. Thurnau’s fifth hour – 517 pages per student

The CLASS OF 2019 (the SENIOR class) read 1,198,995 pages of pleasure reading this year.  That’s an average of 2561 pages per senior.

These senior classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the sixth triad:

Mr. Lodle’s sixth hour – 1789 pages per student

Ms. Guebert’s sixth hour – 1669 pages per student

Ms. Thurnau’s seventh hour – 1029 pages per student

The CLASS OF 2020 (the JUNIOR class) read 1,042,383 pages of pleasure reading this year.  That’s an average of 2093 page per junior.

These junior classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the sixth triad:

Mr. Brunner’s third hour – 846 pages per student

Mr. Brunner’s sixth hour – 812 pages per student

Mr. Garland’s sixth hour – 657 pages per student

Mr. Garland’s fifth hour – 615 pages per student

Ms. Chalmers’s fourth hour – 580 pages per student

Mr. Brunner’s first hour – 526 pages per student

The CLASS OF 2021 (the SOPHOMORE class) read 1,005,451 pages of pleasure reading this year.  That’s an average of 2157 pages per sophomore.  (The sophomores ended the year with their best triad, and they finished with more pages per student than the juniors.)

These sophomore classes each read more than 500 pages per student in the sixth triad:

Mr. Johnson’s second hour – 2163 pages per student

Ms. Schloesser’s second hour – 892 pages per student

Mrs. Pettus’s third hour – 759 pages per student

Ms. Ursani’s second hour – 593 pages per student

Ms. Schloesser’s first hour – 576 pages per student

Mr. Jenkins’s fourth hour – 522 pages per student

The ENGLISH TEACHERS read 123,219 pages of pleasure reading this year.  That’s an average of 6161 pages per English teacher.

CONGRATULATIONS to all four classes!  Keep reading this summer!

Belleville West Students Celebrate a Year of Reading

The Belleville West English Department and Belleville West Library hosted the annual Reading Celebration Day last Thurdsay, May 9.  The celebration include a breakfast for top readers, a virtual visit with YA author Mitali Perkins, a drawing for autographed books and e-readers, a book swap, reading time, reading-related games, and distribution of new books for summer reading.

Young Adult Author Spends Time with BW Readers

Belleville West students participated in a Skype visit with author Mitali Perkins as part of the ninth annual Reading Celebration Day on Thursday, May 9.  Perkins—the author of the young adult novels You Bring the Distant Near, Bamboo People, and Forward Me Back to You—spoke with students about her life, her writing process, and her books.

Talking about the importance of books, Perkins had this to say to students:  ”Words can really have influence. Words can build up. They can tear down. They can make you feel closer. Stories are really powerful.”

Several Belleville West students also had the opportunity to ask questions during the virtual visit.

Belleville West Celebrates Reading Today

The Belleville West English Department holds its annual Reading Celebration Day today.  The festivities include a breakfast (sponsored by the BW Library) for top readers, drawings for new books and e-readers, time for pleasure reading, and a virtual visit with author Mitali Perkins.