Southdown Helps Donate Books to Needy Children
By now it’s a well-established fact that Southdown School loves reading. The students there want to share that fondness with others so the second graders in the class of teachers Kim Meyers-Bender and Jessie Brennan’s and the third graders from teacher Christine DePetris’ class joined together with Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning and Scholastic to help donate two million books to disadvantaged children.
Over the course of the past few weeks, the students pledged to read 200 books as part of Scholastic Book Clubs’ “Classroom Care” program. The literacy campaign was designed to teach children about the joys and importance of reading and giving.
“When the classes meet their goal, two million books will be put into the hands of the children that need it the most,” Miss Brennan explained. “Our students are learning firsthand that their efforts can make the world a better place.”
To participate, the classes joined “Team Eli” and kept track of their daily progress with an interactive poster and bulletin board in which the students added stickers as they read books, to track their progress. The classes also made footballs, banners, and wrote short statements about what inspires them to “tackle” a new book. The Scholastic website allowed the classes to share and compare their achievements with other participating classrooms around the United States.
“This program has allowed both the students as well as the teachers demonstrate our continued spirit of service and sharing while also instilling a passion for reading within our students,” Mrs. DePetris said. “We hope to make this a yearly tradition.”
“Since its launch in 2001, Scholastic Book Clubs’ Classrooms Care initiative has enriched the lives of over 36 million children nationwide,” according to its website More than 27,114,000 students form over 1,084,500 classrooms have participated in Classrooms Care activities, resulting in the donation of over nine million books and counting to children in need.”
“We are extremely proud of the dedication the children put into this project and we know that their dedication to reading will be a life-long journey,” Mrs. Meyers said.
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