Earlier this month, I went to the RISSE Center to get a better understanding of the current state of their children’s library. I found that their books were unorganized and seemed to be scattered around on tables (picture below). There were almost all picture books and barely any books of higher reading levels so I’ve added some more chapter books to my wishlist. I interviewed a couple of the oldest kids at the center, and they said that the books in the downstairs library go mostly unread unless one of the youngest kids is playing with it.
My thinking is that if I make the downstairs library clean and colorful, it’ll attract more kids to the area because I understand from talking to the smaller kids that they enjoy reading. Pawa O, is working on a project to redesign the library so we’ve decided to collaborate! We discussed ideas at the center of what colors would be best and how to raise funds.
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This month, I completed my book wish list and it was sent out to parents at Woodland Hills Montessori School. At the end of their Middle Eastern culture awareness week, the school had a Middle Eastern themed dinner where I collected books at a table. With me was a representative from RISSE who talked about the programs at the center. I collected many of the books that were on my list and am very excited about completing the book collection process.
Next month, I hope to collect information about the kids who will be using the library to get a better idea of what reading levels need to be included and how to organize the books. As my first steps for my Signature project, I began researching books for my book list. I focused on including a range of topics including ethnicity, LGBT+, women’s rights, and the refugee experience. Some sources I used for finding books were the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, Scholastic and weareteachers.com. One of my favorite books I found was “Grandma’s Pride,” by Becky Birtha, about a young girl, Sarah Marie, visiting her Grandmother in the south in 1956 during segregation. Her grandmother has she and her sister walk into town with her instead of taking the bus where they would have had to sit at the back; from this experience Sarah Marie learns about segregation and witnesses her grandmother taking a stand against it. The story features a main character that is a young black girl who has a strong female role model in her life. This is one of the stories that I hope kids at the RISSE Center will resinate with or feel represented by. As a bonus, this book provides historical information about American history.
Next month, I will complete my book wish list and begin plans for a book drive to collect all books needed for my project. |
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February 2018
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