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Using funds from the Tecumseh Education Foundation’s Mini Grants, a New Carlisle Elementary School teacher kicked off a reading fair for fourth and fifth graders last week in hopes of fostering a genuine love of books in students.

Helen Collins, a Title One Reading teacher at New Carlisle Elementary, opened participation in the reading fair to all fourth and fifth-grade students at the school, encouraging them to read, evaluate, and prepare a poster analyzing a book of their choice.

Books in the Harry Potter series as well as Diary of a Wimpy Kid seemed to be popular choices amongst students, as the auditorium was full of posters depicting characters from the stories. Collins said Mini Grant funds covered the posters for students who participated in the fair, as well as the green screen needed for her video news program in the classroom.

Tecumseh board members, administrators, and community figures including Board of Education member Mert Christmann, Superintendent Norm Glismann, and Maggie Bollar from the New Carlisle Public Library served as judges in the reading fair, taking time to painstakingly assess each poster and rate it according to Collins’ outlined criteria. Students were asked to provide a brief summary of the book, as well as the author’s name and purpose for writing such a story.

Students in each class were given the opportunity to view each reading fair entry in the auditorium last Tuesday, which Collins said she hopes will inspire other children to want to read the stories as well after seeing their peers create such in-depth projects.

“My biggest hope is that the other kids will see them walking around and want to read those books too,” said Collins.

She noted that she was pleased with the amount of children who participated in her first reading fair, which included projects from 60 students.