One Teacher's Story Of Coordinating An Awesome Drive: 5,164 Books, Sourced And Sorted By Students.
Gina Foody, an 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Kingsway Middle School, knocked it out of the park, spearheading a drive that drew in 5,164 books, all of which got distributed to students in Paulsboro. Interested in having your students reel in hundreds or thousands of books? Read Gina's account of how her students sourced and sorted thousands of books.
Take note of how Mathew Browne, principal of the receiving elementary school, packed and transported over 100 packed cases back to his school.
BookSmiles connects schools. Teachers, students, custodians, and administrators do the rest!
Take note of how Mathew Browne, principal of the receiving elementary school, packed and transported over 100 packed cases back to his school.
BookSmiles connects schools. Teachers, students, custodians, and administrators do the rest!
Gina Foody and some of the students who helped source and sort
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Sorting the books
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"Good morning Larry!
Thank you for your kind words. As a literature teacher who began her career in Paulsboro and Lindenwold, I know first hand the difference between those districts and the one in which I teach now, Kingsway Middle School. As you described us, we are a "book rich" district, meaning our children are able to easily access books and very often have their own bookshelves filled at home.
I shared your website and video clips with the 150 students I teach each day as well as those who volunteer after school for my community service club. This motivated them to share their "book wealth." Your suggestion to share our mission with the community was vital to our success. This is the eblast that was sent to parents with your BookSmiles pdf you sent me as an attachment:
The following eblast was sent to parents:
Spring Cleaning? Please clear those bookshelves! Kingsway Middle School's Community Service Club is collecting gently used books to donate to a local community in need. Our goal is to collect 4,000 books by May 18th!
Drop off boxes are located throughout the middle school and also in the high school through Mrs. Erikson in room 106.
Any questions, please contact Mrs. Foody: foodyr@krsd.org and see the attached flier for more information about BookSmiles.
My students knew that Signal Hill Elementary collected 3,700 books, and we wanted to break that record, so we set a goal of 4,000. I had several volunteers visit five "team leader" homerooms every few days to remind them to donate. Parents that I have never met emailed me to ask if they could deliver boxes to the main office. Our secretaries were vital to this collection as they fully supported the process and would often call to my room excitedly to ask me to send down students to collect more books that had been delivered. Our custodian, Jack Story, was able to collect close to one hundred boxes for us so that we could sort, box, and label our collection.
My team of 150 students wrote their name on my board in the back of the class under the "thank you for being a book donor" sign (yes, 8th graders love to see their name on the board for positive recognition). We had a daily total of books collected each day as well. Students told me that as they saw our totals rise, they realized this large goal was truly attainable, so they worked harder to reach it. As of May 23, we have 4,619 books for a district in need's Pop Up Book Fair!
As for a local newspaper, I am including my principal, Brian Tonelli, in this email as he will know the proper local channels for us to promote our success. We do not have a PTA, but I'm sure our Board of Education will be thrilled to hear about our accomplishments. "
Thank you for your kind words. As a literature teacher who began her career in Paulsboro and Lindenwold, I know first hand the difference between those districts and the one in which I teach now, Kingsway Middle School. As you described us, we are a "book rich" district, meaning our children are able to easily access books and very often have their own bookshelves filled at home.
I shared your website and video clips with the 150 students I teach each day as well as those who volunteer after school for my community service club. This motivated them to share their "book wealth." Your suggestion to share our mission with the community was vital to our success. This is the eblast that was sent to parents with your BookSmiles pdf you sent me as an attachment:
The following eblast was sent to parents:
Spring Cleaning? Please clear those bookshelves! Kingsway Middle School's Community Service Club is collecting gently used books to donate to a local community in need. Our goal is to collect 4,000 books by May 18th!
Drop off boxes are located throughout the middle school and also in the high school through Mrs. Erikson in room 106.
Any questions, please contact Mrs. Foody: foodyr@krsd.org and see the attached flier for more information about BookSmiles.
My students knew that Signal Hill Elementary collected 3,700 books, and we wanted to break that record, so we set a goal of 4,000. I had several volunteers visit five "team leader" homerooms every few days to remind them to donate. Parents that I have never met emailed me to ask if they could deliver boxes to the main office. Our secretaries were vital to this collection as they fully supported the process and would often call to my room excitedly to ask me to send down students to collect more books that had been delivered. Our custodian, Jack Story, was able to collect close to one hundred boxes for us so that we could sort, box, and label our collection.
My team of 150 students wrote their name on my board in the back of the class under the "thank you for being a book donor" sign (yes, 8th graders love to see their name on the board for positive recognition). We had a daily total of books collected each day as well. Students told me that as they saw our totals rise, they realized this large goal was truly attainable, so they worked harder to reach it. As of May 23, we have 4,619 books for a district in need's Pop Up Book Fair!
As for a local newspaper, I am including my principal, Brian Tonelli, in this email as he will know the proper local channels for us to promote our success. We do not have a PTA, but I'm sure our Board of Education will be thrilled to hear about our accomplishments. "
As I mentioned yesterday, I do not mind storing the boxes in the back of my classroom until you can pick them up as long as it is before we leave at noon on June 19. You and I can speak on the phone to confirm what will work best with your schedule.
Finally, the categories you established helped us sort:
Gina Foody
8th grade literature R team
Community Service Club Adviser
Kingsway Middle School
Finally, the categories you established helped us sort:
- Baby/Toddler books - Board books, Golden Books, smaller books with very few basic words.
- PreK/Kindergarten/Early Elementary - Big colorful pages, more words - picture books.
- Easy Chapter Books - Chapter books, Magic Tree House/Junie B Jones.
- Hard Chapter Books/Middle School- Loads more text/Dumb Diaries/Diary of Wimpy kid/ Judy Blume...
- High School - We don't get a whole lot of these donated. Twighlight series...
- Non Fiction/Informational - Science, hobbies, art
Gina Foody
8th grade literature R team
Community Service Club Adviser
Kingsway Middle School
Matthew Browne, principal of the receiving school, rolled up in a district van and with the help of the Kingsway and Paulsboro maintenance crew loaded over 100 boxes, packed with 5,164 books, back to his district (it took a couple trips). He and his teachers staged a massive pop-up book fair for hundreds of students, just in time for summer break. Check out the pics on Twitter:
Gina Foody and Matthew Browne - a great team
Call to action: The research confirms what we do!
International Reading Association: "Books make a difference: A study of access to literacy"
Science Daily - "Books in the home as important as children's education level"
The Federalist - "Families armed with books repel the effects of poverty"
Pacific Standard Magazine - "Books in the home are strongly linked to academic achievement"
Science Daily - "Books in the home as important as children's education level"
The Federalist - "Families armed with books repel the effects of poverty"
Pacific Standard Magazine - "Books in the home are strongly linked to academic achievement"
Middle school students at our 2,200 book giveaway - December 2017