PROGRAMS LIKE Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library are a blessing, putting books into the hands of children from birth to 5 years. But once a child enters school, their library may not continue to grow. While they can access books at school, most of the reading material is the school\u2019s property. Children longing for books of their own are often left without resources and access to stories that enrich their lives and entertain them outside of school. And the local literacy rate, especially following the pandemic, could use a boost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Susan Redden, librarian and media specialist at Community Elementary, first saw a book vending machine on social media. Seeing it as an opportunity to encourage students to read, she shared the idea with the school\u2019s principal, Whitney Yoes, and the two immediately began brainstorming for its funding. Soon, letters were mailed to area businesses, churches, government leaders, and others in our community. The letters were sent in April, and by report card day in May, a local Kiwanis club donation enabled the school to fund the purchase of the machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Redden said, \u201cI was amazed because I thought I\u2019d need to save money from the book fair in the fall just to get the money for it. I was blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Installed in November 2021, students earn \u201cInchy\u201d tokens through their Accelerated Reader program, and the youngest students obtain them as they progress with their sight words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2022-23 school year included a 40-book challenge for extra opportunities to earn tokens. Third through fifth grade students who read 40 books from different genres received a coin. All students also received a coin last Christmas and were excited to select the book of their choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPart of the reason we [installed the machine] is that many of our kids don\u2019t have books at home. Studies have found that students having books in their homes improves literacy rates. Our goal with the machine is to improve literacy and the students\u2019 love of reading. I feel like if students get to pick a book they want, it\u2019s going to make them want to read, and I think the kids feel that way, too,\u201d said Redden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Redden fills the machine with books inspired by the students\u2019 feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said, \u201cA lot of times, it\u2019s based on what\u2019s popular for library checkout because they get stuck on a series, and they absolutely love it. I try to find books I know they like or will catch their attention. I even asked them when we first started this for ideas for books they wanted to see in the machine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With an ever-changing selection, the book vending machine dispenses more than books. Building a love of reading and libraries, no matter how small, sparks joy in students\u2019 hearts. And the literacy rate? It improved from 28.3 (2020-21) to 31.3 (2021-22). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who knew an \u201cInchy\u201d token could buy so much? GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PROGRAMS LIKE Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library are a blessing, putting books into the hands of children from birth to 5 years. But once a child enters school, their library may not continue to grow. While they can access books at school, most of the reading material is the school\u2019s property. Children longing for books of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n