Reading partnership links students to business professionals

CEDAR RAPIDS - A 500-plus page novel might be the longest book she's read yet, 13-year-old Rachel Lester said.

Luckily, she added, she'll be reading 'The Book Thief” with a partner - a Quaker Oats employee participating in the school's reading partnership program.

'I'm excited to have someone to read it with, to talk to about it ... instead of reading it by myself,” Rachel said.

Rachel and a group of fellow eighth-graders at Roosevelt Middle School were partnered with Quaker Oats employees Friday as part of a new reading partnership program.

They'll read and discuss the novel, written by Markus Zusak, together, with an emphasis on critical thinking.

The pairing comes as the school prepares to become a magnet school with a business theme starting next fall, said language arts teacher Diane Schnoebelen-Kramer.

Roosevelt and Quaker Oats have teamed up in the past, Schnoebelen-Kramer said, and she wanted to resurrect the program as the school shifts to its business focus.

Schnoebelen-Kramer, who has taught at Roosevelt for 30 years, said she started the reading program several years ago after securing a grant to purchase the books needed.

She said she was eager to bring the program back.

'Students will have access to positive role models, which helps them connect to community members and learn more things about business,” she said. 'This will be a nice segue into that. I thought this would be a good year to bring this back with our transitioning to that model.”

Starting next school year, Roosevelt Middle, 300 13th St. NW, is to become Roosevelt Creative Corridor Business Academy. It is to be the Cedar Rapids Community School District's third magnet school and the first magnet option for middle school students.

The district has converted two elementary schools - Johnson STEAM Academy, 355 18th St. SE, and Kenwood Leadership Academy, 3700 E Ave. NE - in the last two school years.

The district's magnet schools retain their attendance boundaries but accept additional students during a lottery in the spring. The lottery is random and any student can apply.

In Roosevelt's resurrected partnership with Quaker Oats, Schnoebelen-Kramer said book discussions are to be driven by Iowa Core Standards.

'Students might be asked to ‘cite textual evidence' in a certain part of the novel they are discussing with their partner or they might be asked to ‘determine the theme or central idea of the text,' ” she said.

Brooks Dechant, who works in maintenance and engineering at Quaker Oats, said he was happy to be at Roosevelt on Friday - his day off - to meet his student partners.

'I wanted to help empower them to improve their reading and learning,” he said.

Quaker Oats production worker and Roosevelt Middle School alumna Theresa Ann Trimble said she is looking forward to reading the novel and connecting with students.

'The adults enjoy it, too,” Trimble said. 'This gives you an opportunity to see what the schools are doing.”