Blues Bookworms

The Blues Bookworms Program is a new literary initiative to encourage students in grades K – 6th to spend more of their leisure time reading. The free program is available to students in the greater metropolitan St. Louis area and runs from October to January. This year, more than 4,000 students are participating in the program.

Here’s how the program works (registration for this year has ended):
Each month, students record the number of minutes read using the form provided by the Blues. Forms should be initialed by a parent/guardian and submitted to teachers. Teachers then submit their list of total classroom minutes to the Blues each month.

Every class that reaches or goes beyond the goal of 250 minutes per month per student will be entered into a drawing for a player appearance.* One classroom will be randomly selected each month to win a visit from a Blues player and prizes. All classes that reach their monthly goal will be highlighted on the Blues website.

*In order to be eligible to win a player appearance, the entire classroom must read at least 240 minutes per month. However, students can still reach the goal by reading 1000 minutes by the end of January even if they do not read 240 minutes every month of the program.

At the completion of the program in January, teachers will submit the names and number of minutes read by their students. Students that read 1000 minutes or more will score with a free ticket to a designated Blues game. A special ticket discount will be available for family members, and students that attend the game will be recognized as a group on the jumbotron.

Blues Bookworms All-Star Award
Encourage your students to read even more and they will be eligible to win the All-Star Award! The top reader from each grade level, K- 6, (based on number of extra minutes read over 1000) will win the Blues Bookworms All-Star Award and four tickets to the Blues Bookworms All-Star Blast to celebrate their accomplishments during a Blues game. Winners will be highlighted in-game and on the Blues website.

For photos of Blues player appearances in classrooms, check out the Blues Bookworms Photo Gallery.

Thanks to all the teachers and students who participated in Blues Bookworms this year! Bookworms read over 900,000 minutes in just 4 months! These classrooms qualified for visits from Blues players during the program!

Ms. Leu – Fox School Mrs. Malaschak – St. Teresa School Mrs. Pingel – West Elementary Ms. Kelly – West Elementary Mr. Mathys – Ballwin Elementary Mrs. Schneider – Okawville Junior High Ms. Hagarty – Okawville Grade School Ms. Hevner – Okawville Grade School Ms. Swan – Clyde Hamrick Miss Lindsey – Dewey Street Campus Ms. Schukar – Lone Dell Elementary Ms. Dodd – Okawville Grade School Mrs. McCoy – West Elementary Mrs. Thessing – Breese District 12 Mrs. Schleifer – Okawville Junior High Mrs. Cutkomp – Cold Water Elementary Ms. Hepburn – Castillo Elementary Ms. Hundelt – Okawville Grade Schoool Mrs. Mauck – LaVerna Evans Ms. Heckert – Okawville Grade School Ms. Steirer – Okawville Grade School Ms. Janning – LaVerna Evans Ms. Rohling – Damiansville Elementary Ms. Pfeiffer – Cold Water Elementary Ms. Hagarty – Okawville Grade School Mrs. Marstall – St. Richard School

Mrs. Hegger – Damiansville Elementary Mrs. Schneider – Oakawville Junior High Mrs. Baer – Evans School Mrs. Weiss – Damiansville Elementary Mrs. Schmitt – Triad The students listed below were chosen as Blues Bookworm All-Stars for reading the most minutes in the program and received four (4) tickets to the Blues game on March 4th! Nicholas – St. Richards School Isabella – Okawville Grade School Kirsten – Russell Elementary Lillian – Triad Middle School Peyton – Central Elementary Kara – Okawville Jr. High Donovan – Cold Water Elementary Ben – Christ Community School Balaj – Parkway Middle School Joe – Parkway Middle School

Blues Bookworms Spokesman: Lee Stempniak

Lee Stempniak is in his third season as a forward for the St. Louis Blues. The New York native, who wears number 12 on the ice, says he makes time everyday to read.

In October, Lee visited Estelle Kampmeyer Elementary School. Read the story, check out photos from his visit and watch a video.

Lee’s Reads:
Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
Corduroy – Don Freeman
James and the Giant Peach – Ronald Dahl
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Oh The Places You’ll Go – Dr. Seuss
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
The Hockey Machine – Matt Christopher
The Indian in the Cupboard – Lynne Reid Banks
The Kid Who Only Hit Homers – Matt Christopher
The Polar Express – Chris Can Allsburg
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls
White Fang – Jack London
Wingman on Ice – Matt Christopher