Above, six first graders spend a sunny lunch recess reading their new books. This is a common, weekly sight on bookstore days, with students excitedly sharing their books with each other.
A note from the bookstore coordinator:
It's hard to believe. The Mustang Free Bookstore took 18 months to develop – finding donated shelves and seeding a classroom with close to 3,000 new and used children's books. The room has been open since January, with 30 to 80 students earning books each week. Reports from teachers say the service is a great success, genuinely motivating students in their school work and further fueling excitement about reading.
We've also benefited from a fundraiser by our librarian Marika Myrick and donations from social media site Reddit.com to buy more books to restock the shelves.
Now, more wonderful news.
The local Blockbuster video store had a closing sale due to the parent company's bankruptcy proceedings. DVD cases are about the same size as children's books. Blockbuster's shelves are the perfect height and design to be accessed by all ages of kids.
Thanks to a $1,050 grant from the McKinleyville Area Fund, and Blockbuster manager Barrett DeFay working with us, we now find our bookstore fully remodeled with perfect shelving.
Oh, and add to the mix 2,000 additional books purchased from Reddit donations, bringing our room total today to 3,820 books.
These shelves matter not just for practical reasons, but for the message they send to students. They find the books organized and displayed with respect in a clean, inviting environment, and only books in excellent condition. When holding up books as the highest form of reward on campus, how students receive that message is directly affected by presentation. We present the books as valuable, and so students accept them as valuable.
A few of our best donated shelves from the previous incarnation of the bookstore are still used in the room. The others will first be offered to teachers in our district, and second to nonprofit thrift stores in our region.
Thank yous go out to:
Community:
- Barrett DeFay, Blockbuster
- McKinleyville Area Fund (for making the purchase possible!)
District staff:
- Brian Turner
- Scott Oilar
- Their help transporting the shelves was instrumental.
Morris staff:
- Mark Jordan (room prep so the room can serve multiple uses when the bookstore is not open)
- Michael Davies-Hughes (moving, setup, continuous support of the project)
- Susan Lopez (book sorting)
- Penne (retired teacher) and Dan O'Gara (they've helped at every phase of this project)
Parents (transporting and setting up shelves, and reshelving books):
- Deanne Fisher (and family)
- Inma Thompson
- Jody Sekas
- Jolyon Walkley (and baby)
- Matt and Susan House
- Matt Manzano
- Micah Holmes (and family)
We estimate 1,500 books will have been earned by students from January to June this year. The Morris Parent Teacher Organization is gearing up to acquire and part with 3,000 books in the 2011-12 school year, or more if we can swing it. The more books we have, the more innovative incentive programs our teachers can devise.
Book donations are welcome at the school office or by arranging pick-up by e-mailing morrisbookstore [at] gmail [dot] com.
The bookstore is a parent-conceived, created and managed endeavor that provides teachers with leeway in how this resource is used in their classrooms to improve academic and social performance. We thank our teachers and principal for their continued support. At this school, parents truly have a voice.
~Andrew Jones, bookstore coordinator
