Schools Scene

Book Fair Fun at Sickles School

Enjoying the Sickles School Wild West Book Fair are Samuel Sztoser and Summer Key and (back row, l. to r.) Sienna Key, Arianna Torrone, and Tyler Gilbert.
Wild West was the theme for this year’s Book Fair at Viola L. Sickles School in Fair Haven.

The Wild West Book Fair offered a unique venue for exploring a love of reading, as well as an array of books available for purchase. Sponsored by the Fair Haven PTA and featuring titles by Scholastic Publishing, the book fair was held from Nov. 13 to 17 for students in pre-kindergarten through third grade.

This year an exciting new twist was added to Family Night, featured on the evening of Nov. 14. Sickles School teachers volunteered their time to present a fun and educational new feature dubbed Reading Rodeo.

The Reading Rodeo provided the opportunity for students and their families to visit teachers in their classrooms to listen to stories and learn reading strategies. Youngsters were given Reading Deputy badges with the goal of reaching five stamps on their badges and receiving a special book fair prize. Stamps were awarded for visiting classrooms to discover a new reading strategy, and then again for trying out the strategy.

The Sickles School teachers demonstrating strategies at the Reading Rodeo were:

  • Kathleen Foderaro and Kristen Burghart, Strategies for Solving Tricky Words
  • Kerry Kennedy and Jackie Diez, Word Detectives…What’s the Word?
  • Melissa Gibson, Nicole DelTin, and Pamela Greenhall, One-to-One Correspondence
  • Alexandra Rosen, Readers Talk About Their Books
  • Susan Bennett and Nancy Gennusa, Looking for Picture Clues
  • Monica Caruso, Retelling
  • Marilyn Schwarts and Corinne Piotrowski, Comprehension: Questioning Before, During, and After Reading
  • Kerry Leahey and Missy Maguire, Developing Fluency
  • Courtney Setaro and Kate Gagliano, Non-Fiction Reading Strategies
  • Sheri Kleinman, Making Connections (Text-to-Self/Text/World)
  • Vince Mottern, Campfire Sing-Along — Storytelling Through Music (Dual Coding Theory and Multimedia Effect)
  • Dana Hughes and Cathy Boccino, Thick and Thin Questions
Heather Lombardo, this year’s PTA Chairperson for the Sickles School Book Fair, was assisted by numerous volunteers who helped the Wild West come to life.
— Edited press release from the Fair Haven School District