LPEF grant helps fund prizes for reading

Dru Ostrander, a third-grader at Northside Elementary, won the top prize in the school’s Dr. Seuss reading challenge, directed by Library/HPL Teacher Kristen Martin (in her “Cat in the Hat” hat).

Students at Northside Elementary School were treated to a special reading of the Dr. Seuss classic “The Foot Book” by News 8 WKBT Anchor/Reporter Lisa Klein during a March 2 assembly.

Students listened — and also read along with Lisa — to the fun rhyming story that also includes a lesson about not judging people because of what they (or their feet) look like.

In honor of the occasion, Lisa wore socks that did not match!

News 8’s Lisa Klein, left, presents reading prizes to Rose Arndt, right, a fourth-grader, and Kaitlyn Duchow, center, a kindergartener.

Lisa was on hand to help students celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) who was born on March 2, 1904. His birthday has been adopted as the annual date for the National Read Across America Day, an initiative of the National Education Association.

During the four weeks prior to the event, Northside students were challenged to complete at least three of nine possible activities related to reading.

About 120 students completed all four weeks of the challenge — and 21 of them were selected in a drawing for prizes that were funded through a grant from the La Crosse Public Education Foundation. The grant was directed by Northside Library/High Performance Learning Teacher Kristen Martin.