Any way that gets youth involved in more reading is a good thing, said Lenihan Intermediate School teacher Kate Niedermann.
Thanks to a donation from Bank of the West, six new eReaders are now being utilized by students in a sixth grade book club, which meets after school weekly to read together.
"This is a new way to read and a new way to think about reading," Niedermann said. "The students have been really excited about it."
Article Photos
T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW POTTER
A donation of eReaders is being utilized by a new book club at Lenihan Intermediate School. Pictured are book club members, front row, from left, Gavin Joesting, Jillian Hicks and Jaci Hardman. Back row, Juan Guevara and Hannah Fogarty.
Niedermann was able to secure a $600 grant for the eReaders through the website www.donorschoose.org, which lets people and businesses choose which grants they want to fund.
"This was a way to give back to the community and to provide something teachers can use," said Carla Nordstrom, branch manager of the Bank of the West located in Hy-Vee.
Currently, the book club is reading "The Hunger Games" on the eReaders.
They will spend 45 minutes reading the same part together, then discuss what they've read.
"I think it's a cool way of reading and it might get more kids to read," said sixth grader Jaci Hardman, who is in the book club.