My Book Plea

Hi friends, I'm about to mooch off of you, but it's for a good cause.

I need your books.

Read on. Or, if you don't feel like reading on, please at least glance at the list at the end of this post.

Pluit Village School is a new school campus that is a part of the Sekolah Pelita Harapan International (SPH) network of schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. This means that it will be very hard to come by English books at the grade level that I need for my own classroom library, and the ones that are available are expensive I'm told. A lot of teachers who have been teaching for several many years may have built up their classroom library over time. This, however, will be the first class that is my very own, and it's in a developing country.

Next weekend, I'm going home to my parents for Easter weekend, and I plan on doing an archaeology dig into my childhood. I'm going to scour every nook and cranny for my old chapter books (and possible my brothers' old books too). I'll bring every Newberry Medal book I can find. I'll find some great read alouds that I can read to my class just like my grade four teacher read Silverwing, Harry Potter, and Charlotte's Web to us on her banged up wooden stool. I'll snag whatever seems relevant.

Reading is obviously a fundamental part to a child's early education, and I want to do everything I can to provide them with different reading opportunities in my classroom. I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to pack a classroom library into a suitcase to bring with me, but if you know me, you know that I've been refining my packing skills for many, many years. Worst case scenario, I send some on the slow boat to Indonesia..... Or I'll find Mary Poppins' bag.

Pluit Village is in a transition period, and this school year will be the transition year between it being an early education center and becoming a full K-5 school in the center of Jakarta. The transition school we'll be at this year will be in the Pluit Village Mall. This will be a challenge at times, but I know that it's a challenge that is well worth the efforts we'll be putting in.

I'm so excited for the challenge this year brings! I can't wait to get to the point where I have a unique and diverse classroom library for my students, and I get to see them debating over which book to take home to read.

I know that it'll come together, but I may need a little help. Here's how you could help if you feel so inclined.

1. Point me toward different book sales at schools in the Greater Moncton Area and even on PEI. This will be my gold mine, I'm hoping.

2. Look through your old chapter books, novels, picture books, and send me an email or message with a list of what you think you'd be willing to donate to my classroom. 

3. SPH is a Christian international school network. If you know of any books that would be helpful for the spiritual growth of children (ages 7-11) and interesting to read, please send me the titles of these books. Even better, if you have some that you don't feel you need anymore, you could consider donating them. 

4. Give me some tips or pieces of advice on how to accomplish this task!

5. Pray. 

Email me or message me on Facebook.

Here's a link to give you an idea of what kind of books are around the grade three level.