Mrs. Maul 3^rd grade class received new books last winter thanks to the Cissna Park Education Foundation. She explained that initially, her 3rd-grade class was very involved in this process. She had surveyed the students about their interests in different genres, authors, and topics. The kids were directly involved in creating lists of our class favorites and fine-tuning the list to narrow down our favorites for our class. The enthusiasm and engagement that this anticipation created for my 3rd graders. She was looking forward to being able to rearrange, relabel, and resort to our classroom library with the help of my kids. This type of reading environment filled with enthusiasm for books, discussions about favorites, and questions for peers is one that all teachers strive for. She felt like this grant application helped her kids get excited about reading. “We truly had a hunger in our classroom for these books in our hands!” She said.

And then, COVID-19 hit and she didn’t want to class down so she was able to develop a system of requesting these new books, along with special delivery from the teacher. “This quarantine taught has me how special the classroom environment is for creating enthusiasm and engagement in learning.” She said. “I missed my class last spring, our talks and laughter, our clever ideas and imaginations, and the way we learn from each other.”

As soon as she is able, the books purchased from this mini-grant will be her 3rd-grade shelves for this school year’s 3rd-grade class to get their hands on them!