Local students complete reading program

About 250 students from Carrie Lee, Decorah Middle School, North Winneshiek and St. Benedict's have finished a program which asked them to read 20 books.  The students gathered recently at Carrie Lee Elementary and Decorah Middle School to test their knowledge of the books they had read.
 
Organizers Janelle Keune, Mary Ann Krammen, Carole Sand, Rhonda Thompson and Gabe Twedt praised the support of families and the local community.  Parents and teachers acted as coaches for the student teams, meeting once a month or more.  Other teachers offered their rooms as contest sites, and many others lent books to the students.  School librarians and Decorah Public Library children's librarian Sally Stromseth collaborated with the organizers and made the books available to the participants, as did Marlys Lien at Once Upon a Time and Kate Rattenborg at Dragonfly Books.   Gail Weis designed and
constructed the awards for first, second, and third place teams in three
separate divisions. Local merchants A & J Petersburg, Casey's, Culver's,
Pizza Ranch, and Bank of the West all contributed to the event, and high
school art students designed bookmarks for the team members.  Decorah PTO, St. Ben's, and North Winn paid for a pizza party that was held following the gathering.
 
Thompson said, "Our numbers grow every year, and we look forward to bringing the Reading Games to Decorah kids again next year.  We invite anyone interested in supporting the program through contributions or prizes tocontact us through our schools."