Godfrey-Lee Early Education

Left to right: Kindergartners Xavier Miguel-Garcia, Aiden Rodriguez-Gonzalez, and Liam Landero-Ceja compare the books they chose at a ReadGR event. (School News Network)

A line of kindergartners streamed into the media center at Godfrey-Lee’s Early Childhood Center. There, spread across tables, was an array of new books: classic books; graphic novels; books with characters of all shapes, sizes, hues, and abilities; Spanish books; English books. Students eagerly thumbed through the pages.

“Spiderman!” shouted one boy, as classmates swarmed to see what he’d found.

Thanks to the year-old nonprofit ReadGR, every child in the school took home a book. As co-program director of ReadGR, Becca Walsh-Wolfe oversees these pop-up book distributions, where she tells students, “If you ever feel lonely, you always have a friend in a book.”

Lemons to Lemonade

Walsh-Wolfe is passionate about getting quality books into the hands of children. She spent 10 years coordinating the Reading Is Fundamental(RIF) program for Grand Rapids Public Schools before the district eliminated the program due to lack of funding.

RIF has allowed students to choose age-appropriate books, free of charge, since its inception in 1966. From the mid-70s to 2012, 80 percent of national RIF funding came from a federal grant. Most book recipients were in schools and community centers where 50 percent or more of children receive free and reduced-price lunch.

In 2012, Congress and the Obama administration eliminated RIF funding.

“It obliterated RIF programs all over the country,” said Walsh-Wolfe. The RIF Literacy Network, of which ReadGR is a member, continues to provide support through data, research, digital tools and grants, but it’s no longer able to provide funding at the levels it once did.

Walsh-Wolfe, who has an education degree with a literacy emphasis and a master’s degree in urban education, said she was troubled by what she saw. When GRPS eliminated RIF, she took to social media to share her concerns. Within a day, funders stepped forward, and ReadGR was born.

Kindergartner Bianca Salas-Villagomez writes her name on the nameplate of the free book she chose at a recent ReadGR book distribution

Partnerships and Pop-Ups

Walsh-Wolfe teamed up with Sara Binkley-Tow, co-founder of the mom-to-mom support nonprofit MomsBloom, to build ReadGR. Binkley-Tow had the experience of building a nonprofit organization from the ground up. Walsh-Wolfe had the literacy background and RIF experience. The pair found an ally in Grand Rapids Metro Ministry, the program’s major funding source.

Partnerships have been key to ReadGR’s success: Churches have offered volunteer power; Fountain Street Church houses ReadGR’s office; businesses like Thrivent Financial, which sponsored the recent book distribution at the Early Childhood Center, have stepped forward with financial and volunteer support.

After one year of operation, ReadGR has provided more than 10,000 free books to more than 3,500 students in 10 elementary schools including charter schools and buildings in Kentwood, Godfrey-Lee, Wyoming, Godwin Heights, and Northview schools.

Becca Walsh-Wolfe, co-program director of ReadGR, chats with students at Godfrey-Lee’s Early Childhood Center before they choose their free book

Books Matter

While a stocked bookshelf is a mainstay of many homes, one in three children in the United States has no books, according to Walsh-Wolfe. This is problematic, she said, because the number one indicator of future educational success is having books in the home: “It actually even supersedes the parents’ educational level.”

Besides educational success, there’s a social-emotional component to reading: empathy is a major focus embedded in curricula provided to teachers by ReadGR, and in their dialogue with students at each distribution.

“Literacy and reading help connect us to one another,” said Binkley-Tow.

But to reap the benefits of reading, kids have to enjoy reading. Understanding which books will pique children’s interest while being well-written, beautiful, and reflective of the children receiving the books is not easy.

Skye Davis, a kindergartner at the Godfrey Lee Early Childhood Center, is excited about the two books she received at a Read GR distribution, sponsored by Thrivent Financial

“I really consider this my art,” said Walsh-Wolfe. “What sets us apart is our collection of books. That’s what I hear from teachers and principals…they’re the books that the kids want to read. They’re books where kids recognize themselves in the pages.”

Most important, they’re the books that get read: “I do whatever it takes — they may take “Captain Underpants,” they may take “Walter the Farting Dog” — if that’s what gets them to read, awesome.”

“The care she takes in making these selections is incredible,” said Binkley-Tow. “When it doesn’t take a long time for a child to pick a book, you know you’ve done a good job.”

As ReadGR continues to grow, Binkley-Tow and Walsh-Wolfe are looking forward to what the future holds for the organization. They’re seeking partnerships to sponsor book distributions for specific schools, planning a graphic novel distribution at schools this spring, and raising funds and awareness through events such as an upcoming “paint your canvas” fundraiser.

And they’re hoping to expand their literacy services by offering reading-focused professional development in schools.

“There are a lot of places we want to go,” said Walsh-Wolfe. “We’re excited about the future and about what we have to offer.”

For more local school news, visit the School News Network website, schoolnewsnetwork.org.

First-grader Aylin Mendoza receives a treat at Supermercado Mexico

By Bridie Bereza

School News Network

Carlos Urbina and Josephine Shindano sat next to each other in Kara Jones’ classroom at the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center. The second-graders colored on worksheets that asked them to create a picture of a tradition their family observes. Carlos peeked over at Josephine’s drawing, which showed an Easter egg hunt she participates in each year.

Students eye the baked goods at Supermercado Mexico on Division Avenue

“They have Easter in Africa?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Josephine, an African immigrant who has been in West Michigan for three years. She and her classmates have spent time each week since school began working on a project called “Who AM I?” It encourages students to explore and share their culture, language and family traditions.

The project was devised by Jones and first-grade teacher Nancy Stefano, following a weeklong summer course on thematic learning. They created “Who AM I?” to address a phenomenon they had both observed among students: they weren’t proud of their heritage.

Josephine Shindano, a second-grader at the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center, works on her family tree

Fostering Pride

“One thing I noticed in the classroom was that during conferences, parents would frequently tell me that kids didn’t want to speak their native language. They wanted to blend in to the U.S. culture with how they look and speak,” said Stefano. “We want kids to be proud of who they are, where they come from, and the wonderful differences we can share.”

Jones noticed similar sentiments among her students: When asked about their culture and customs, she said, many students would just copy whatever the person next to them said, saying, ‘Oh, I do that, too!’

The teachers have built in time throughout the week to work on projects surrounding family, culture and traditions.

Second-grader Nevah Sivins looks at photos depicting different traditions

Students are creating their own portfolios that contain family trees they created, and other drawings and writings about their families and cultures.

Seventy-five percent of students in the district are Hispanic. While the lessons in “Who AM I?” emphasize students’ individual identities, the teachers have incorporated some elements specific to Hispanic culture into the project, such as taking students to Supermercado Mexico, and having them prepare a song, poem and a dance for a school assembly during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Getting to Know You

“Who AM I?” will culminate around Thanksgiving, with a party for students and their families, who will be invited to bring a dish to pass that is specific to their family or culture.

First-graders from the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center had many questions for Yeli Romero of Supermercado Mexico

Students throughout the school will get a chance to walk around and see portfolios created by those who participated in the project.

Besides instilling some pride and a sense of who they are and where they come from, the project has served another purpose: to help the teachers get to know students and their families a bit better. That has been a major focus at the school this year, said Jones.

“We wanted to find out what makes (students) unique,” said Jones. “Through these different projects, we’ve learned a lot about different people. We’ve learned about their families, we’ve learned about their traditions. It’s been really fun.”

Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.

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