Today with my fellow NCTE members I went to an elementary school in the Endicott area to donate the money we raised and choose the books we wanted to give to them.  In September, there were terrible floods that ruined schools and homes in the area.  As one could imagine, this destruction was really hard to deal with and many people were effected by them.

It’s always a little rough getting up early, but this was such a fulfilling experience.  These fourth grade students were so excited to see us it was adorable.  We were introduced to the class by the principle and she explained what we were doing here to the class.  I was so shocked (in a good way) when she asked the class to raise their hands if they wanted to go to college.  Every single kid had their hand raised.  It was so nice to see their eagerness about college at such a young age.

We each took a table to sit and talk to the kids.  We asked which books they would like to  see in their library and made a list so we can start getting the books they wanted.  The popular picks were mystery and scary stories.  I’ve always heard the expression that the teacher learns from their students, and that was proven to me today.  One little boy taught me so much about dirt bikes and he eagerly brought over his favorite books about that topic.  I was so surprised with how much this little boy knew and he has hopes to be a professional dirt bike racer when he is older.

Another thing that also really shocked me was how much these kids loved to read.  They all exclaimed how they love to read and they read for fun all the time.  I was under the impression I would have to push my reading views on them, but they were readers on their own.  Being at this school today gave me so much hope and faith in the children of our future.