Parker Woods Montessori School students are letting their imaginations soar with new books.
Parker Woods raised nearly $25,000 through Book Blast – a new enrichment program from Books Are Fun — to help grow students’ home libraries with popular, new books. The campaign resulted in 17,000 books, which exceeded the school’s goal. Librarian Nicole Lindsey organized the efforts.
“Any money that was raised is put directly back into our school in the form of books in the students’ hands,” said Lindsey. “It’s all about building their home libraries.”
Through the program, parents were asked to reach out to 10 people who might donate to the campaign. Once that step was completed, their child got to pick from several prizes and have their name entered into a random drawing for additional prizes, including an iPad and four treasure chests (each stuffed with fake coins, candy and $25 worth of money). Every student went home with at least one book.
Kam Sayre, a sixth-grader at Parker Woods, says she’s grateful for the campaign and is happy to see that so many people care about kids reading.
“I’m super excited because I am always looking for new books,” Kam said. “I have a lot going on with clubs and activities and don’t really have the time to go to the library or a bookstore to pick up books. It’s really cool for my school to deliver them to me.”
Fourth-grader Owen James thinks reading is fun and particularly enjoys fantasy novels.
“Once you read a book and get into it, it’s like you’re traveling to a different world,” Owen said.
Reading is already a priority at Parker Woods. The school has two free libraries in the building where anyone can donate or check out books. The libraries were established by the school’s Learning & Enrichment Committee.
