My students need books such as Life As a Knight, Great Leaders of the Civil War and Elizabeth, to better understand important events in American history on various topics of interest.
"What is Pearl Harbor? When did the Vietnam war happen? Do you have any books on...?" My students ask such questions when they are learning about American history in class. Sadly, my little library is lacking in resources on these topics.
I am the librarian at a small public school which is nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.
My school has 150 students of many diverse and unique backgrounds. We are a Title 1 school with over 65% of our students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Numerous families receive weekend food assistance in their child's backpack from our local food bank. Many of my students are reluctant readers and an academic success does not come easily or quickly. I hope having more non fiction resources on topics that are personally interesting to my students will help motivate students to succeed in their reading efforts and seek to be life long readers. I strive to create a media center that is warm, safe and welcoming while maintaining a fun, creative learning atmosphere.
My Project
For many of my students, the only library they will ever visit is the school library. After much weeding of outdated (1960s-1980s!) and used and abused books, our small library is woefully lacking current non fiction texts on important events in American history. While the Internet is a wonderful resource for research, many of my students do not have internet access at home, so they need a book to take home for their research needs. Additionally, several of my male students are asking for resources on Gettysburg, the world wars and the Vietnam war, which my library currently has two books on these topics. If my students are actually asking for a book to read, I want to provide it! I've requested library binding or hard cover binding for these books so students for many years to come can enjoy and use these resources. With shrinking school budgets, often books for the media center are a low priority when basic school supplies are needed.
As a history buff myself, I hope to continue to encourage and motivate students to read for pleasure and information using modern, informative non fiction books.
It is thrilling to see students who read at low and high levels enjoy books and learn about our country's history.
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