This project started during the 2011-2012 school year, when the students at Graham Hill Elementary made a deal with us that they would read as many books as they could during the year and First Book-Seattle would donate a set of books to children at another elementary school of their choosing. They picked Concord International School in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood.
The students at Concord received those books in October and made a similar pledge. They have read furiously during the school year, and so continue the cycle of “paying forward” by donating Magic Tree House books to students at Dearborn Park Elementary next fall.
We arrived at the classroom to set up the books, book plates, juice, and cookies (what’s a celebration without snacks?). During the set up, one little boy rushed into the classroom to grab something, saw the stacks of books and shouted, “Whoa!” before dashing out.
After a couple of minutes, the rest of the second graders trickled in. The instructional coach, Dan Coles, reminded the students about the reading pledge they made at the beginning of the school year and congratulated them for all their hard work during the year. Then, he introduced board member Jennifer Preisman.
Jennifer first remarked that she had heard about all the great reading they had done and asked the kids what books they had read. One student shouted, “Harry Potter!” Several members of the class nodded in agreement and another kid exclaimed that he had a Harry Potter book in his desk before pulling out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Other books included Fighting Freedom, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Magic Treehouse series, and a National Geographic book on space.
After congratulating the students, Jennifer announced that she had a special gift and asked, “Has anyone heard of the Seattle Seahawks?” Hands shot up in the air and several kids gasped. Jennifer explained that she had met the kicker, Carson Wiggs, who was very impressed with the Concord kids’ achievements. She presented the class with a “What Was Your First Book” poster signed by Mr. Wiggs for them to hang in their classroom. The kids were delighted.
Afterwards, Jennifer turned their attention to the Magic Treehouse books stacked on a side desk and to the four bookplates on each student’s desk. She explained that they were going to sign their names on each book plate, which would go into donated book so the kids at Dearborn Park would know that those books were a gift from students like them. As the kids busied themselves with signing the bookplates, we handed out juice and cookies, as well as some First Book swag including pencils and temporary tattoos (which were well-received, though the kids were warned they had to wait until after school to apply them!)
After congratulating the students, Jennifer announced that she had a special gift and asked, “Has anyone heard of the Seattle Seahawks?” Hands shot up in the air and several kids gasped. Jennifer explained that she had met the kicker, Carson Wiggs, who was very impressed with the Concord kids’ achievements. She presented the class with a “What Was Your First Book” poster signed by Mr. Wiggs for them to hang in their classroom. The kids were delighted.
Afterwards, Jennifer turned their attention to the Magic Treehouse books stacked on a side desk and to the four bookplates on each student’s desk. She explained that they were going to sign their names on each book plate, which would go into donated book so the kids at Dearborn Park would know that those books were a gift from students like them. As the kids busied themselves with signing the bookplates, we handed out juice and cookies, as well as some First Book swag including pencils and temporary tattoos (which were well-received, though the kids were warned they had to wait until after school to apply them!)
As the celebration continued, Mr. Coles took showed us a board documenting the second graders’ reading challenge. The chart was sprinkled with large paper flowers labeled “start,” “25” etc. all the way to “200,” as well as a bunch of paper bees each marked with a student’s name. The bees were scattered on flowers on the board. Dan explained that the second graders were challenged to read for 20 minutes a night for as many nights as they could and each flower marked a milestone for the number of nights they read.
He pointed out the three highest achievers, Abby, Jason, and Max, who all reached 125 nights. We were so impressed that we asked if we could meet them, so Mr. Coles introduced us. When asked about what they enjoyed most from their many nights of reading, they unanimously said the fun of reading itself. (Mr. Coles also informed us that the entire class’s reading skills had improved greatly and that one kid had gone up 8 reading levels since the beginning of the school year.) Then they declared that they highly recommended the Magic Treehouse series and hoped that the students at Dearborn Park would enjoy them as well.
Overall, this was such a fantastic event. It was a great way to encourage reading in students as well as allow them to give back to their community. We hope that the cycle will continue to be successful next year!
Note: This was the last event that our chair, Megan Lehman, will be attending. She has served as chair of First Book-Seattle for two years, but she will be stepping down from her position as of June 1st. Thank you for all your great work!
