South Kent News

The Grandville Public School District board district welcomed the principals, teachers and students from Grandview Elementary, who described a recent project during the board's March 20 meeting.

At their March 20th board meeting, members of the Grandville public schools board of education welcomed the principals, teachers and students from Grandview Elementary. Second grade teacher Amanda Gaul brought some of her students illustrate a project where students posed as famous people from history, dressing up to resemble a Living Wax Museum. The "wax statues" moved when approached by the board members, explaining what made them significant in history.

The board was also visited by members from South Elementary, who spoke about their recent "March is Reading Month" events. School librarian Samantha Siegert addressed the board, saying the school is using reading to unify and build up students. For March is Reading month, everyone in the building stopped at 3pm to read, following the theme of across the country reading in positions of people working or playing across the country.

"This was so much fun, and the participation was so top notch across all grades," Siegert told the board. "And even with staff, it was really important to us that everybody in the building stop at 3:00, that students can see the adults in their lives practicing their love of reading, and that the whole school community practiced it together."

The school also transformed the library into a book café one week, having student hostesses greet visitors at the door, waiters showed them the "specials of the week" and gave them a menu, and served up books based on genre, which allowed students to delve into different genres and explore new titles. Students talked about their favorite titles, and about the Monopoly Reading competition, which had 22 different reading challenges for students throughout the month complete, like reading upside down, reading in an accent, or reading a book from a certain category, Siegert said.

Siegert also talked about CC, who is "our comfort dog who can be found reading with students every single day," she said. "She'll wander into classrooms and sit with them while they're doing independent silent reading. She can be used as a PBIS reward for a student who has earned a special reward. She can be used for a kid who might need some quiet time in the hall, but just a CC and a book you also enjoy."