The Twin Valley Elementary Center in Elverson raised $767.50 for the organization Kids for K.I.D.S, by collecting coins to provide books for children in need. At TVEC school functions throughout the 2013-2014 school year, coins were collected and a check donated to the worthy cause.
The project was implemented by Peg Dombach, TVEC’s librarian, and the Reading is Fundamental (RIF) committee at the school. Through the RIF program and funding, more than 480 K-4th grade students are given three brand new books per year.
‘The students at TVEC are fortunate that they get RIF books each year to call their own,’ Dombach said. ‘When we found the organization Kids for K.I.D.S, and discovered that we could raise money to help them buy books for kids who need them, we were on board.’
Four coin collecting contests were held throughout the year, and each winning classroom won an ice cream party.
Through the year-long RIF program, TVEC explored the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. In conjunction with the theme, TVEC’s school principal, Craig Sell, dressed as ‘Waldo’ from the ‘Where’s Waldo?’ books. Mr. Sell ‘traveled’ the globe, visiting the seven different modern wonders as the children explored them at home and in the classroom.
The students read for an entire year and tracked their minutes. The more minutes they read, the more wacky ‘challenges’ Mr. Sell had to complete, including dressing like a Leprechaun and dancing on St. Patrick’s Day, coming to school in his pajamas, and singing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ at the school’s chorus concert, to name a few.
‘There are a lot of pressures in education today,’ Sell said, ‘and this is a way to get down to what’s important: to make reading an enjoyable, lifelong activity.’
