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Students get three Scholastic books for free

It’s not summer yet, but you couldn’t tell by the temperature outside last Friday.

But a little heat couldn’t keep ɫ��������һ���������� teachers and state and federal interventions and operations department workers from heading to the warehouse.

Even Clifford the Big Red Dog braved the heat. That’s what happens when it’s Book-A-Palooza time.

All Title I elementary and junior high campuses in the district sent reps to the warehouse last week to do some shopping for students. To encourage reading over the summer, the schools shopped for books they can send home with students over the summer at no cost to them.

Each student gets sent home with three books, one more than they got last year.

This marks the sixth year the district has done Book-A-Palooza, and it’s always a highlight of the school year.

“Every time we send this out, we get the ‘Yea it’s time’ email right back,” said Emily Ware, an MTSS intervention coach in the state and federal interventions and operations department. “This means they can come choose books that are relevant for their students and their students get to choose the books from the collection that the teachers and librarians get to pick out. We want to be sure we’re fostering literacy over the summer months. The students get to shop and keep them.”

One of the biggest jobs at the campus level is deciding what books students want to read. Schools want to get popular titles in the hands of the readers because if the student isn’t interested in the book, all the work done to get them could go for naught.

“We’ve had wonderful experiences where teachers and librarians have come with a wish list of books they have accumulated with their student population,” said interventions specialist Dena Kimbrell. “They are going up and down the aisle looking for specific books by specific authors so they can put the book in the hands of students to encourage their summer reading.”

While the students are the beneficiaries, none of it would be possible without the support of Scholastic.

“It’s such a wonderful partnership,” Kimbrell said. “Their employees are assisting us each and every day and are making it possible to find those special titles and authors kids really want to get their hands on. We’re hoping one of those books can create lifelong learning.”