Generosity

There are people in this world who put others ahead of themselves. I wish I was like those people, but this blog post isn't about my shortcomings. Friends of ours recently gave a donation to the school which resulted in an exciting day for both my and EK's classrooms yesterday. As I mentioned in my previous post, Tuesdays are mail days (and package only days). EK came into my classroom yesterday carrying the first of three boxes of books purchased for our classroom libraries as a result of the donation. My students were very excited because I had mentioned to them already that we were ordering books for our meagre and would they like some input into what was being purchased. They readily offered suggestions, many of which were ordered and arrived yesterday.

Now, I must tell you that at the beginning of the school year, reading was just not a cool thing to do. Maybe one or two of my students pulled a book out to read when work was finished, but the rest would rather do anything else than read. However, by using a number of strategies throughout the year to encourage students to read, almost all of them now pull out books and read at any opportunity. Once kids are hooked on reading, educating them goes to a whole new level.

Needless to say, my students were very excited to see the new books arrive yesterday (Christmas in March!). In fact, they were so excited to read the new books that I created some time at the end of the day for quiet reading. The students curled up in chairs and the lovely sound of crisp pages being turned over again and again was music to my ears.

Thank you CS & VS for this amazing gift of a classroom library!