Killbuck Elementary kids enjoy a twist on March Madness
March Madness is underway at Killbuck Elementary, but in the pages of books and not on the hardwood. The Right to Read champion will be named by student vote.
While eyes around the nation will be glued to the tube in anticipation of another exciting NCAA March Madness event, a March Madness of a different sort has captured the fancy of Killbuck Elementary for Right to Read Week.
While the superhero theme is the focus of the week, an exciting March Book Madness bracket-style event has the students talking, with eight selected children’s books vying for the right to be crowned as the champion of the reading bracket.
The right bracket contains the books “The Sun Is Late and So Is the Farmer” versus “The Yellow Bus,” which came in as the consensus top seed, and “Jumper” versus “Wild Places.”
The left bracket showcased “Ahoy,” which fell to “Lloyd Llama,” while “Evergreen” topped “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.”
The entire student body was eager to vote for their favorites as the competition rolled along, and on Thursday, March 20, the top two winners squared off in an assembly read-off with special guest readers Principal Brian Lash and West Holmes Superintendent Eric Jurkovic each reading one of the books prior to the final vote.
“It’s Superhero Week with plenty of exciting events each day scheduled, but Thursday is our big day,” Lash said. “That day is our ‘dress up like a superhero day’ as well as our reading bracket finals of the March Book Madness Tournament. That will be an all-school assembly that should be pretty wild, and we’re honored that Mr. J agreed to stop by and read as part of the finals.”
Lisa Lawhead, Killbuck Elementary librarian, and some of the Title staff helped formulate the reading bracket. Lawhead said the idea was to introduce new and interesting books to the students that they hadn’t read before.
“I wanted to pick books that were new and hadn’t been out on the shelf yet that the kids weren’t aware were out yet,” Lawhead said.
She said “The Yellow Bus” author and illustrator Loren Long had written “Otis,” a children’s book that is used in the kindergarten curriculum. She said tying that together also is something that is fun to do so kids can connect the dots and realize perhaps their favorite book author and illustrator has more out there to read.
She also said simply trying to find books that would entice kids to read and capture their fancy was an important step in the process, which led her to “Lloyd Llama.”
“Kids love llamas,” Lawhead said. “There wasn’t anything specific in the way I chose the books other than trying to find a nice variety that would interest the kids and be something new for them to read.”
She did want to introduce two nonfiction books into the mix, which ended up being “Jumper” and “Wild Places.”
Lawhead said the book bracket idea has been used in the past, although it has been several years since they had done it, so bringing it back for Right to Read Week seemed appropriate.
In addition to all of that excitement, the school is hosting a read-a-thon in which the winning class that reads the most will be invited to play the staff in a wild game of dodgeball.
What makes the week even more entertaining for the students were the unannounced “Stop, Drop & Read” moments littered throughout each day.
“I just get on the intercom and announce ‘Stop, Drop & Read,’ and all the kids drop whatever they are doing, grab a book and read,” Lash said.
Lash said one of the kindergarten kids spilled the beans and admitted they kept reading after he told them to stop.
“It’s little bits and pieces of reading time that makes each day more enjoyable, and the kids love it,” Lash said.
He said Killbuck has always been heavily invested in promoting reading at all times, but Right to Read Week always brings it all into focus for the students.
“It’s all about the love of learning and reading,” Lash said. “It underscores everything we strive to do here to promote literacy.”
Whether it was flying high with the superhero of their choice or narrowing down a book bracket champion, with each page turned the students were the real winners during Killbuck Elementary’s Right to Read Week.