Three Guelph schools are participating in a national fundraising campaign to purchase books for their libraries, as schools across Canada are learning to find innovative ways to keep children engaged in reading.
Brant Avenue Public School is participating in the program, in part to fill some empty space their library has after being renovated in the summer, said principal Mike Anderson.
“We have a beautiful new library but we have some empty shelves,” he said.
In addition to the renovation, the school’s library was offered a donation of two spinning racks from a local high school that no longer needed them.
Anderson said it is important to keep the library’s shelves stocked to keep the children engaged.
“We really encourage daily reading for every student in our school. We know the benefit it has,” said Anderson.
Brant Avenue and Ottawa Crescent public schools, as well as St. Patrick Catholic School are participating in the Adopt A School program offered by the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation.
The program allows members of the community to sponsor books for the school library of their choice and the foundation will partially match the funds.
For every $20 donated to a participating school, the foundation will donate $10. Each $10 donated is considered equal to one book.
Ariel Siller, executive director for the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation, said shrinking budgets for elementary school libraries is a national challenge, with 550 schools participating in the Adopt A School program this year.
“There are so many amazing teachers, principals and librarians that want to instill a love of reading, but struggle to do that because they don’t have the resources to help kids fall in love with reading,” said Siller.
In 2010, a news release from the Canadian Federation of Teachers estimated on average teachers spend more than $200 of their own money each year on books for kids in their classrooms.
Siller said it is essential for schools to have books on hand to continue to engage and challenge young readers.
“We know that falling in love with reading is one of the predictors of academic success, including graduating high school,” said Siller.
The goal for elementary schools participating in the program is to raise enough money to buy one book for each student at the school.
Currently, Brant Avenue Public School has raised enough for 108 books for its 250 students.
Heather Loney, communications and community engagement officer for Upper Grand District School Board, said each school in the district receives funding in its budget for instructional resources, which can include library books.
“It is up to schools to decide how to use the funding available in instruction resources, so each year principals will meet with their teacher-librarians to develop a budget and discuss their priorities for the year. In developing their budget, schools look at what their goals and priorities are and see what resources would help compliment and achieve their goals,” said Loney.
Schools are welcome to participate in fundraisers, said Loney, and school councils may also hold library fundraisers from time to time.
“These fundraisers can be valuable in helping a school build, renew and maintain a robust library collection,” said Loney.
Each store in the Indigo chain selects one school to adopt locally.
St. Patrick Catholic School, a school with 260 children within the Wellington Catholic District School Board, received a donation of 720 books from the Chapters book store in Guelph.
“This is an amazing story because they have enough books now for three per child. It’s truly transformative,” said Siller of the donation.
