District 54 board honors teachers with 1,000-book classrooms

The District 54 School Board visited six teachers across the district this month to praise them for filling their classroom libraries with more than 1,000 books.

A significant body of research states that the more children read, the better readers they become. The goal in District 54 is for every classroom to have 1,000 books in order to meet the wide range of abilities and interests of the children.

With this in mind, the district embarked on a campaign in 2006 to fill the bookshelves in each of its classrooms. With new teachers joining the district every year, our commitment is ongoing.

Although District 54's SuperKids: Powered by Books Committee raises funds to buy books for teachers, many of the teachers being recognized have assembled these large classroom libraries on their own by purchasing the books themselves, scouring garage sales, placing Scholastic book orders, receiving some as gifts, etc.

These teachers listed below join 284 other District 54 teachers who had previously been recognized for achieving this milestone, for a grand total of 290 teachers.

• Emily Whipple from Armstrong Elementary School

• Debbie Dubinski from Churchill Elementary School

• Amanda Herdegen from Dirksen Elementary School

• Tara Mershon from Hoover Math and Science Academy

• George Schaupp from Hoover Math and Science Academy

• Emilio Saraga from Muir Literacy Academy

• Submit 'Your News' at www.dailyherald.com/share