By Matt Lazarus, Substitute Teacher
& Maria Falgoust, Librarian

While walking through the halls during ISB’s Literacy Week, one would have been hard-pressed to avoid falling under its spell. As is tradition, classes kicked off the celebration by reproducing a full-length book jackets of their favorite books as covers for their classroom doors. These colorful displays left one to ponder the eponymous forest-dweller in El Grufalo by Julia Donaldson while passing by Spanish Nursery, or feel transported to the medieval castle in Le Roi Est Occupé by Mario Ramos upon entering French Pre-K. 

The enthusiasm for Literacy Week was firing at all cylinders when students heard the daily announcement over the loudspeaker: “It’s time to Drop Everything and Read!” Another Literacy Week favorite was Dress As Your Favorite Literary Character Day, where we saw an array of beloved literary characters ranging from Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes, to Billy from Where The Red Fern Grows, to the beautiful butterfly from Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Reading Without Walls

A highlight of this year’s Literacy Week was undoubtedly the “Reading Without Walls” challenge, in which students of all grade levels were given the task of selecting books outside of their usual comfort zones: books whose characters look and live differently than they do, books which feature new topics, or books whose format or genre might be entirely unfamiliar. Students tackled the challenge with abandon; Danielle Jones, English 5th Grade Head Teacher and chair of Literacy Week, observed that her students were gaining empathy from these new characters and that the challenge had led to an enthusiastic flurry of book recommendations.

Multilingual Book Fair & Poetry Evening

Another standout of this year’s Literacy Week was the first-ever Book Fair Presale & Poetry Evening. ISB parents Sarah Riggs and Omar Berrada gave a multilingual poetry reading of original and translated works in French, English, and Arabic. This evening, attended by parents and staff, helped to set the tone perfectly for ISB’s 13th annual Multilingual Book Fair.

This year’s Book Fair was a great success and generated lots of enthusiasm! The gym was transformed into a bibliophile’s wonderland with colorful hand painted signs and posters created by parent and student volunteers. The Library Team, Library Committee, ISB parents, and Middle School student volunteers all collaborated to plan and execute a memorable celebration of literature for our multilingual community.

Our wonderful vendors, La Librairie des Enfants, L’ecole Loisirs, and Chau Chau Luna provided curated multicultural literature in French and Spanish for kids of all ages.  Stories Bookshop & Storytelling lab offered high quality books for children as well as for ISB’s Adult Book Club. Bayard/Milan were also there, selling subscriptions to gorgeous magazines in French and Spanish.

I was so impressed by the wonderful book selection at the year’s Multilingual Book Fair. Not only did I get some fantastic books in Spanish for my children, I was also able to pick up some very unique gifts! This is definitely one of my favorite ISB events. I cannot wait for next year!

-Lulu Betancur, ISB Parent & PA President

Highlights from this year’s Book Fair included:
  • ISB parent Florence Mars signed her new book Say Bonjour to the Lady along with the talented illustrator Pauline Leveque
  • Almost 100 beautiful new books were donated by generous ISB families to our classrooms and the Library!
  • Middle School students read stories and played games with younger children in the “Book Nook” 
  • The Middle School Student Council hosted a bake sale to raise funds for Worldreader, a nonprofit organization that brings digital reading material to underserved communities in order to create a world where everyone can be a reader. 

 

The ISB Community Bonding Over Books

ISB parents and staff are true bibliophiles, and when it comes to Literacy Week, everyone gets involved! Year after year, French 3rd Grade Head Teacher Molida Khuon ranks among the stalwart proponents of Literacy Week, and this year was no different. For her class, she hatched a plan in which parent volunteers would send her the titles of books they remember enjoying as children, along with photographs of themselves that would be unfamiliar even to their own children! Before the arrival of the “mystery reader” (which could be anyone from a faculty member, a parent, or an older student), she would show the picture, along with three hints about the identity of the reader. As expected, the students were on the edge of their seats.

Spanish Pre-K Head Teacher Leticia Gonzalez was beaming with pride when the topic of Literacy Week came up. Throughout the week, every single student in her class welcomed a member of his or her family as a mystery reader. During their end-of-week Literacy Celebration, Leticia handed out certificates to each student for having completed the Reading Without Walls challenge.

Librarian Maria Falgoust put it this way: “Literacy Week is a wonderful tradition that promotes our community’s love of literature.” Indeed — step through the library during any class’ check-out period and you will see a line of students snaking up to Maria’s desk, each anxiously awaiting to call a fresh stack of books their own for the next two weeks. But the charms of reading, of the pursuit of literature, are often drowned out by the cacophony of our daily routine. This reminder of what we truly love about books is precisely what makes Literacy Week such an important time of the year. Technology Director Kyle Vitale is not afforded many chances to read in front of a classroom of students, so when he was approached to be a mystery reader, he jumped at the opportunity to read , a book he has read to his children many times. Judging by how actively engaged the students were, he could tell they welcomed a new voice in the classroom. “No matter what job you have,” he reflected, “it’s good to be a reader.”