Plenty to read

From left, fourth-graders Brody Crow­der, Cade Keeler, Car­son Holt and Sean Mavis were among Smith Ele­men­tary School stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ing in a book swap day at the school Tues­day. All stu­dents in grades kinder­garten through fourth grade brought in books from home to exchange for new books. Smith lit­er­acy coach Barb Keis­ter said the pro­gram was a first for the school and was designed so “everybody’s start­ing off win­ter break with new read­ing mate­r­ial. It’s like hav­ing a read­ing plan for win­ter break.” Every stu­dent took at least one new book home, Keis­ter said, and the school will do another swap in the spring for sum­mer read­ing mate­r­ial. (Gazette | Paul Comstock)