Thank you so much to all the people who helped get a full wishlist of books on the way to this wonderful school.  If you’ve just arrived, please consider helping our other schools in need of books!  Let’s get more kids excited to read.  Also please follow us on Twitter or Facebook - we have lots more empty shelves to fill, coming soon.

PATTERSON ELEMENTARY

Patterson Elementary is a Title 1 school in Washington, DC that  serves 340 students from preschool through fifth grade. Over 80% of Patterson’s students qualify for free or reduced price lunch. The library serves as a place to connect the student body – every student visits the library at least once a week, and it the only place in the school where they can read whatever they want. This ability to check out what they want, regardless of what they are learning about or what their reading level is, is key because letting students read books that match their interests is the best way to increase interest in reading. The average book in our library collection is from 1992, and much of the collection looks old-fashioned, and lacks appeal to students browsing the shelves, looking for things to read. While we do have a librarian, the collection is funded entirely through grants and donations, so we really appreciate your support. Thanks for your help!

Thank you so much to all the people who helped get a full wishlist of books on the way to this wonderful school.  If you’ve just arrived, please consider helping our other schools in need of books!  Let’s get more kids excited to read.  Also please follow us on Twitter or Facebook - we have lots more empty shelves to fill, coming soon.

NATHAN HALE ELEMENTARY

The mission of the Nathan Hale School Library is to empower students to become critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, and skillful researchers; to develop imaginations, foster learning, and to enable students to live as responsible citizens.

Our school is over 80% free and reduced lunch.  We are always looking for ways to fund our school library, which, just 5 years ago, was mostly used as a storage closet. Since then, our library has become a vibrant, creative place that students visit- and enjoy- on a weekly basis.  My favorite quote is ““Libraries are not made; they grow,” by Augustine Birrell. It sums up our library perfectly.  Our 5th grade students have taken the initiative this year to work in the library after school - it’s a source of pride for them now. And we are constantly adding to and updating our “Book Request Jar” - filled with dozens of stickie-notes.  This Amazon Wish List reflects their favorite current fiction titles - many of which are recent best sellers.  Please help us in our plight to keep our library current and up-to-date (without having a budget!).  Thank you.

Thank you so much to all the people who helped get a full wishlist of books on the way to this wonderful school.  If you’ve just arrived, please consider helping our other schools in need of books!  Let’s get more kids excited to read.  Also please follow us on Twitter or Facebook - we have lots more empty shelves to fill, coming soon.

ALVARADO MIDDLE SCHOOL

Alvarado Middle is a grades 6-8 school located in Union City, California (a suburb of the San Francisco Bay Area).  We have a culturally and ethnically diverse population of approximately 1400 students who love their library.  Over the years the library has been the hub of the school where students can come check out books to escape, learn, discover, and grow as individuals.  However, recent cuts to education have had a drastic impact on our Library Media Program.  The hours of the library have been reduced, and the budget eliminated.  Many of our well-loved books are falling apart and in desperate need of replacement, and students come in seeking new titles that we are not able to purchase. As the Library Media Teacher, I continue to seek ways to get books into students’ hands and help them become lifelong readers. 

Thank you so much to all the people who helped get a full wishlist of books on the way to this wonderful school.  If you’ve just arrived, please consider helping our other schools in need of books!  Let’s get more kids excited to read.  Also please follow us on Twitter or Facebook - we have lots more empty shelves to fill, coming soon.

STEELTON HIGHSPIRE ELEMENTARY

Steelton Highspire Elementary is a Title 1 school, servicing an urban population of students where at least 75% of them are on free/ reduced lunch.  The school library serves grades pre-K-6th grade- approximately 800 students.  There is also no community library, so I’m basically their only source.  We have a high transient population and many books are lost during the year to students who move and take the books with them.  There are so many popular books that my students enjoy and don’t have enough copies to go around! 

Thank you so much to all the people who helped get a full wishlist of books on the way to this wonderful school.  If you’ve just arrived, please consider helping our other schools in need of books!  Let’s get more kids excited to read.  Also please follow us on Twitter or Facebook - we have lots more empty shelves to fill, coming soon.

JORGE MAS CANOSA MIDDLE SCHOOL

Our school, Jorge Mas Canosa Middle School, is the largest middle school in Miami Dade County we have over 2000 students (yea, it’s like a high school).  We opened in west Miami-Dade County in August of 2007 with only 1300 students and have grown by leaps and bounds.  We are a Title One school which means that 80% of our students are on free or reduced lunch.  Our campus has 3 buildings, the Media Center is in Building 1, which is not the building with all the classrooms.  Therefore, we are constantly promoting the Media Center by changing book displays, going on the morning announcements, giving away prizes for participation in the Accelerated Reading Program, and collaborating with teachers to increase our circulation and instill the love of reading in middle school students (which is really difficult).

Help us make more book magic happen!  See our current wish lists for more books still waiting to head to a school in need.

Thank you so much to all the people who helped get a full wishlist of books on the way to this wonderful school.  If you’ve just arrived, please consider helping our other schools in need of books!  Let’s get more kids excited to read.  Also please follow us on Twitter or Facebook - we have lots more empty shelves to fill, coming soon.

DOWNSVILLE CHARTER SCHOOL

Downsville Charter School is a small school in Downsville, Louisiana. We are in the northern part of the state, so we are not Cajuns nor do we have alligators in our back yards! We live in the piney hills close to Lake D’Arbonne. Our school is a K-12 with an enrollment of about 330 students. Our students participate in basketball, baseball, softball, and tennis. Our clubs include Beta Club, FBLA, FCA, FCCLA, FFA, 4-H, and Student Council. Our students love to read in their spare time.  Our library operates on very limited funds due to the fact we are in a rural parish with few businesses. Our needs always outweigh our funds. Most of our books are really old. I would love to be able to update our collection. 

Thank you so much to all the people who helped get 221 (!!!) books on the way to this wonderful school.  If you’ve just arrived, please consider helping our two other schools in need of books!  Let’s get more kids excited to read.  Also please follow us on Twitter or Facebook - we have lots more empty shelves to fill, coming soon.
 

SOUTHSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Southside Elementary School is a Title 1 school in Jonesboro, Louisiana. Due to school reconfiguration two years ago, our fourth grade was moved from the local middle school back to the elementary school. Unfortunately, our library books did not make the trip with us. Southside serves about five-hundred pre-k to fourth grade students. Most students are from low-income and low socioeconomic  backgrounds and reading is not a priority in their home. Our students generally read at least two reading levels below their grade level. Since Louisiana has recently adopted the Common Core Standards, our students are required to read more complex text on grade level in order to meet those standards. However, our library only has a few books and none of those are fourth grade level. Very few are even third grade level. We are in dire need of some chapter books on the thrid, fourth and fifth grade level as well as some interesting non-fiction books to peak our students’ interest.

Last year, we did not have a librarian at all due to budget cuts. Our students didn’t even get to go to the school library to check out any books. This year, due to construction on the campus, the “office” is housed in our library and although we do have a librarian, our students can’t use the library until the office moves out which should be by mid-term. We hope to have the library up and running by January, but we still have the problem of not having enough books on grade level for the fourth grade students. Due to budget cuts, we don’t have very much money to order extra books. Certainly not enough to serve all our fourth graders.

As the reading teacher for the entire fourth grade, I do require my students to participate in the Accelerated Reader program. Unfortunately, finding books for my students to read on their reading level as well as books for the students to read to meet the Common Core Standard is very difficult. For my classroom library, I have a few books, but not enough to do justice for the seventy-one fourth graders I teach each day. If we could get more books for our school library then our students would have some fabulous choices for reading material. Books take you places you may never get to go otherwise, and we want each and everyone of our students to go as far as they possibly can. Even if it is only in their imagination.