The SPORT of Reading

It was February 4th, 2014 and I sat in a school gymnasium, filled with 80 voracious readers, about 120 people in the audience, a man with a top hat with a kiwi accent and a most wonderful buzz in the air as we gathered to celebrate ‘The Sport of Reading’.  I am on the Board for Kids’ Lit Quiz Canada  (www.kidslitquiz.ca and www.kidslitquiz.com) and I enjoyed a day away from school involved in this most special professional development.  I reconnected with the power of story, how we connect to characters and why nurturing a culture of reading in our students and schools is one of the best parts of our jobs.  KLQ started 23 years ago by Professor Wayne Mills in Auckland, New Zealand.  He established a reading quiz event, with teams of 4 students who work together to collaborate, become experts in genres and problem solve the clues that are offered each question.  Over the years, KLQ is now in NZ, Australia, South Africa, the UK, Hong Kong, China and over the last few years is established itself in the US and Canada.  Just a few days ago, Wayne was in Connecticut and Sedgwick Middle School will be representing the US at the World Finals in Cornwall, England this July.  Wayne firmly believes that bringing the readers together for a week at a unique location in the world is an amazing global opportunity for the readers.  The teams visit landmarks, meet local politicians and authors and get to know each other on many levels.  They then put their knowledge to the test at the culminating event to determine the World Champion.  As a proud Canadian, our readers have finished 2nd and 3rd in the last three years! Kudos to Royal St. George’s College (all-boys!) from Toronto who will be representing Canada this year! Crescent School was a pioneer this year by supporting and coaching another school in Toronto through our Outreach Program.  All of our independent schools are perfectly posed to offer support and resources to those schools around us who are not as fortunate.  It was a most fulfilling experience for our coaches and students involved this year.  As we continue to grow KLQ Canada and KLQ US I encourage you to contact me (tcislak@crescentschool.org) to find out how you can get involved.

One thought on “The SPORT of Reading

  1. Kids’ Lit Quiz is a wonderful event for your readers! St. Clement’s sent two teams this year – we did not qualify for the Canadian finals, but our girls learned lots, and met lots of fellow avid readers from around the city!

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