~and I want to change that~

I worked in my new classroom yesterday, sorting through books and cataloguing them by reading level.  I went through an entire box of gallon size baggies before I was finished and will need to stop at the store today to buy some more.  I'm thankful there are so many books for the kids to choose from and between those that were in the classroom already and others that I pick up, it is my hope that every 5th grader will never lack for something to read.  

 I'm on a mission.
I want them to love the gift of a good book.

 In 40 years of being in the business of education, I've encountered many students who loved reading and equally so, many students who really didn't care to read.  I've seen those whose homes were filled with books and visits to the local public library were as common as putting on their shoes and socks before school each morning.  In other homes, books were scarce and went by two names, "slim and none".  I felt a sense of loss for those kids and always tried to find a way to secure some extra ones for them to call their very own. 

 I'm on a mission.
I want them to know how important and fun reading can be. 

 I proudly admit to the fact that  I'm "old school".  Even though I am well aware of the many online methods for children to read these days, I still believe that you can't beat going to the library and choosing a book for your very own.  There's something about the feel of a book and the smell of its pages that you just can't find on the screen of a tablet or laptop.  The children of the days of my youth knew that excitement and I want the children of this present day generation to hopefully feel the same.

 My good husband built a little library for me nearly 5 years ago.  Its purpose was to help children gain access to books that were free for the choosing, ones they could pick out and not have to bring back.  Every year I have tried to fill it with a wide variety of donated paperback books that were still in awesome condition.  Once a week, the books would be taken out of the library and arranged on the floor so the kids could walk around and choose those that looked good to them.  Last year I gave away over 1,000 of them to the second graders in my classroom at Grandfield, Oklahoma.  I loved to watch their faces and listen to their excited voices as they scurried about picking the just right one for them.

 That first book give away on the last Friday of August was one filled with a bit of chaos and books that were strewn from here to tomorrow, but it was easily cleaned up when all the kids had chosen a couple of them to call their own.  The original 9 students in my classroom were pretty happy that day and if I ever forgot that we hadn't given away books lately, they were very quick to remind me in the weeks that would lie ahead.  





Somewhere out there is a kid without a book and you know what?
I'm on a mission to change that.

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