Barnes & Noble Taps STAIR for Holiday Book Drive
Posted by STAIR-Annapolis on November 10, 2021
With the holiday shopping season upon us, STAIR-Annapolis is thrilled to announce that we've been selected by our friends at Barnes & Noble in the Annapolis Harbour Center as the beneficiary of their annual Holiday Book Drive!
As we take time to thoughtfully plan for a return to in-person programming in 2022, book donations like this help us stay connected to students in need of reading support safely and impactfully.
Research has shown that having access to books at home helps improve kids' vocabulary development, attention, and overall academic success. Kids with home libraries of just 20 books are more likely to stay in school longer than their peers who don't have books at home. A home library can also help children develop a good relationship with reading, encouraging them to turn to books for entertainment, to learn about new things, to find answers to their questions, and to satisfy their curiosity about subjects that interest them.
Throughout the month of November, shoppers at Barnes & Noble will have an opportunity to donate a book to STAIR-Annapolis with any purchase. These books will be used to supplement our Seasonal Book Bundles, a new initiative we're really excited about.
STAIR Seasonal Book Bundles will be delivered four times this school year, in November, January 2022, March, and May. The Book Bundles are curated and packaged by STAIR staff, then delivered to Reading Specialists at all 12 AACPS elementary schools we serve. Reading Specialists will distribute the books to students in need of literacy support, helping them build home libraries and ensuring they have access to new, diverse books at home anytime.
Building home libraries is one of the most important aspects of our traditional programming--students enrolled in the STAIR tutoring program get to choose a new book to take home each week--so it's wonderful to be able to continue to give the gift of reading to kids in need even when we can't be together.
If you'd like to support the Holiday Book Drive, simply shop at Barnes & Noble in the Annapolis Harbour Center anytime from now until December 5. At checkout, ask to add a book donation for STAIR-Annapolis to your purchase. Store staff will be happy to recommend a suitable title for our young readers if you're not sure what to buy!
Summer is the perfect time to relax and unwind with a good book, and STAIR-Annapolis has planned lots of different ways to help kids keep reading this summer!
Little Free Libraries are a wonderful community initiative meant to give readers of all ages easy access to books close to home. Each LFL is independently maintained by individuals, families, schools, or civic organizations and neighbors are invited to "take a book, leave a book" anytime. Once again this year, STAIR-Annapolis staff and volunteers will be restocking Little Free Libraries in the neighborhoods where STAIR students live. By ensuring these free library kiosks are always full of great books, we can help provide support to readers young and old.
Some kids collect trading cards or stickers. Some kids collect rocks or bugs. But Jerome has an unusual collection. Jerome collects words. He collects long words and short words, words he knows and words he doesn't, words that describe things and places and feelings. He even collects words in other languages. Jerome spends time with his words every day, thinking about their sounds and their meanings, letting their syllables roll off his tongue. He strings his words together, trying out unexpected combinations and exploring the ways his words change when he mixes them up. After a while, Jerome has collected so many beautiful words that there's only one thing left to do: share them with the world!