By Kelly Gambridge, 5th Grade Teacher, Glenn Elementary School
This was my first year experiencing The Book Harvest and the Books on Break program. It is hard enough getting students to read, let alone finding them quality books on their reading level that they will enjoy. Walking into our school library and seeing the hundreds of books set up for the children to choose from, for free, made the reason I became a teacher so much more real. Books on Break came to our school the week before the school year ended, to give the students plenty of options of books to read over the summer break. The Book Harvest staff was available to help my students look for books that would interest them and help them build their reading level. It really put a smile on my heart to see how happy and excited my students were to show me the books that they were looking forward to reading. Once the children chose the 10 books that they wanted to take home, they made their way to a corner of the library and began showing the books off to their friends, our librarian and myself.
Each child had a story as to why they chose the books that they did. It gave me high hopes when one of my students showed me a fashion/drawing book that she chose. She began to explain to me that she wanted to become a fashion designer when she got older and even though it was not a comprehensive reading book, she was looking forward to drawing and being creative. To hear a child talk about their future and what they want to do makes the Books on Break and The Book Harvest programs so valuable. I am grateful and thankful that we, at Glenn Elementary, are able to have such a program come to our school that promotes student learning at no cost to the children.
I cannot begin to thank Ms. Young and her team at The Book Harvest!