The month of March is National Reading Month, which kicks off with a celebration of reading through the National Education Association’s (NEA) Read Across America Week. In years past, many of the Reich College of Education’s (RCOE) students have volunteered their time to visit classrooms to read books. This year due to COVID-19 restrictions, the RCOE’s Appalachian Educators club and Public School Partnership (PSP) collaborated to bring books to the classrooms virtually.
Dubbed the “Boone Book Buddies”, 15 students, along with PSP Director Dr. Betsy Rosenbalm and instructional coach Dr. Adreian Pitts, created 28 videos of books being read aloud. Participants selected picture books that either were special to them, had a powerful message, or made kids laugh.
“The Public School Partnership aims to create and participate in as many collaborative opportunities with the public Pk-12 schools in our region as possible,” explained Rosenbalm.
“Although COVID-19 restrictions won’t currently allow for our education majors to visit classrooms for extracurricular purposes, virtual activities such as this Boone Book Buddy project continue to allow us to connect with students and teachers in meaningful ways.”
Once the videos were uploaded to a special playlist, they were sent to elementary teachers in the 12 PSP districts for them to share in their classrooms.
“The read alouds provided by the Boone Book Buddies provided a strong model of meaningful reading fluency while addressing topics and situations that our world is trying to figure out,” said Dr. Amie Snow, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at App State’s Academy at Middle Fork. “Reading books on topics that impact our students’ daily lives helps us develop citizens who are prepared and willing to engage in opportunities to promote change in our communities.”
The PSP is a strong collaborative program between the university and area public schools to improve education. Other programs through the PSP are the Mountaineer Readers program, the NBCTApps program, the Partnership Leaders Council, the North Carolina New Teacher Support Program, and biannual Partnership Mini-Grant opportunities.
Housed in the James Center for Student Success and Advising, the Appalachian Educators Club is open to all education majors and anyone who is interested in supporting education. This project was part of the Outreach Committee, which plans events and activities around K-12 school visits to campus.
"We as a committee are so glad not only to have created this resource for teachers, but also an opportunity for fellow students to plug into the local schools again - that's really what the Outreach Committee is all about,” said Lindsay Cowley, the Outreach Committee chair.
“Additionally, the overwhelmingly positive response we've received from teachers has led me to realize how meaningful read-aloud experiences are in early education and encourages me to prioritize them in my future classroom," she added.
Check out the complete list of readers and books:
Reader | Major | Hometown | Title | Author | Illustrator | Publisher |
Harmony Brown | elementary education | Charlotte, North Carolina | I Like Myself | Karen Beaumont | David Catrow | HMH Books |
Riley Barnes | elementary education | Clayton, North Carolina | ‘I Have A Little Problem’ Said the Bear | Heinz Janisch | Silke Leffler | NorthSouth Books |
Dr. Adreian Pitts | Instructional Coach | Greensboro, North Carolina | Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut | Derrick Barnes | Gordon C. James | Denene Millner Books, Agate Publishing |
Bridget Cleary | elementary education | New Canaan, Connecticut | We’re All Wonders | R.J. Palacio | R.J. Palacio | Random House Children’s Books |
Allie Tippin | elementary education | Efland, North Carolina | I’m Gonna Like Me | Jamie Lee Curtis | Laura Cornell | HarperCollins Publishers |
Leo Fowell | elementary education | Charlotte, North Carolina (originally from Auckland, New Zealand) | Hair Love | Matthew A. Cherry | Vashti Harrison | Penguin Young Readers Group |
Jayne Spencer | elementary education | Hope Mills, North Carolina | Grumpy Monkey | Suzanne Lang | Max Lang | Random House Children’s Books |
Francine Ollila | elementary education | Chapel Hill, North Carolina | Cranberry Valentine | Wende and Harry Devlin | Harry Devlin | Purple House Press |
Grace Shearon | elementary education | Concord, North Carolina | The Crayon Man | Natacsha Biebow | Steven Salerno | HMH Books |
Chloe Lineman | special education | Chapel Hill, North Carolina | Llama Llama Mad at Mama | Anna Dewdney | Anna Dewdney | Penguin Young Readers Group |
Vann West | career and technical education | Roseboro, North Carolina | Hey Mom, What is Diversity? | T. Albert | Maa Illustrations | Monkey Pen |
Madison Goodwin | English education | Raleigh, North Carolina | No, David! | David Shannon | David Shannon | Scholastic |
Reagan Houchard | elementary education | Burnsville, North Carolina | Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons | Eric Litwin | James Dean | HarperCollins |
Jenny Eure | elementary education | Winston-Salem, North Carolina | The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear | Audrey and Don Wood | Don Wood | HMH Books |
Dr. Betsy Rosenbalm | Director of the Public School Partnership | Statesville, North Carolina | I Wonder | K.A. Holt | Kenard Pak | Random House |
The Giving Tree | Shel Silverstein | Shel Silverstein | HarperCollins | |||
Lindsay Cowley | child development: birth through Kindergarten | Kittrell, North Carolina | If You Give A Moose A Muffin | Laura Joffe Numeroff | Felicia Bond | HarperCollins |
What Lies on the Other Side? | Udo Weigelt | Maja Dusíková | North-South Books | |||
Who Will Tuck Me in Tonight? | Carol Roth | Valeri Gorbachev | North-South Books | |||
The Bad Mood | Moritz Petz | Amelie Jackowski | North-South Books | |||
The Rainbow Fish | Marcus Pfister | Marcus Pfister | North-South Books | |||
Sydney Shadrick | special education | Lake Zurich, Illinois | A Kids Book About Racism | Jelani Memory | ~ | A Kids Book About, Inc. |
A Kids Book About Systemic Racism | Jordan Thierry | ~ | A Kids Book About, Inc. | |||
A Kids Book About White Privilege | Ben Sand | ~ | A Kids Book About, Inc. | |||
A Kids Book About Empathy | Daron K. Roberts | ~ | A Kids Book About, Inc. | |||
A Kids Book About Feminism | Emma Mcilroy | ~ | A Kids Book About, Inc. | |||
Grace Goes to Washington | Kelly DiPucchio | LeUyen Pham | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers | |||
The World Needs More Purple People | Benjamin Hart and Kristen Bell | Daniel Wiseman | Random House Books for Young Readers |
Boone Book Buddies hold up their books
