by Dennis Dalman
Children squirmed with delight as they listened to storybooks Feb. 2 in the media center at Rice Elementary School.
It was just one of the many activities at the school for the coming month, which is “I Love to Read Month.”
Hannah Tyler, an on-air personality of Wild Country Radio 99, St. Cloud, read several books as the students responded to every word in the stories, including a book called The Teeny Tiny Woman, to which children chanted back with the repetitious phrases in the book. After that book, the children chanted louder and louder (“Another, another, ANOTHER!”), to get Tyler to read yet another book, and another.
The students were three classes of kindergartners and two classes of first-graders. The reading session took place in the media center, under the supervision of Crystal Davidson, media specialist.
Another special guest was Linda Mueller, library-services coordinator for the Royalton Public Library, who informed the students about library services available throughout the area made possible by the Great River Regional Library system, which makes possible 32 branch libraries in a five-county area of central Minnesota.
There are more reading events planned at Rice Elementary School for “I Love to Read Month,” including a fun event during which students will gather in the hallways for a tribute to that late great genius of storytelling, Dr. Seuss.