DENVER -- Ask the students in Kyle Schwartz’s third grade classroom at Denver’s Doull Elementary what their favorite pastime is and you’re going to hear “reading” as the number one answer.
“I like the books that have a story in it,” Alondra said.
“I love reading. I read a lot of books,” Salvadore added.
“It helps me learn more,” said Mary Jane.
“With this book, to me, when you read it you kinda go in to their world,” said Tony.
Alondra, Salvadore, Mary Jane and Tony are all current third graders in Schwartz’s classrooms and all have completed the “I wish my teacher knew” assignment that her class did two years ago that inspired the Denver7 Books For Kids book drive.
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“They said things like ‘I wish my teacher knew I don’t have pencils at home to do my homework’ or ‘I wish my teacher knew I don’t have enough books to read at home,’” Schwartz said.
Denver7 has worked with Kyle and community groups to collect and distribute thousands of new and used books for kids to read over the summer each of the last two springs.
This year the third grade students started bringing books to school the moment they heard we were coming to class to do a story.
“The kids have been so excited that they’ve been able to help other kids get books,” Kyle said. “They really feel like they are advocates for kids and that they are able to use their voice to say ‘hey, we want to read, we just need some books.”
“I feel excited to get into the story and read it because I never know what’s going to happen in a book,” Mary Jane said.
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