Grants In Action
September 2021
School: Hodson Elementary
Teacher: Michelle Farabough, Librarian
Michelle Farabough received an OEF grant for book carts. These carts enable her to check out books from the library and roll them to the classrooms. These “Books on Wheels” give teachers the opportunity to have temporary collections in their room based on the curriculum and lessons being taught.
Michelle purchased the carts as soon as she found out about the grant. Her son, Ross, built the carts so that they would be ready for this school year. She prepared a flyer to deliver to the grade-level teachers, along with the book carts. She asked them to share their pacing guide for the school year so that she could prepare a master calendar of which books needed to be pulled from the library to deliver to classrooms.
As classroom teachers begin new units, Michelle pulls corresponding books from the library and places them on the cart. Then she or student helpers roll the carts to the classroom. They stay until the unit is over so that students can browse and read the books to enhance their learning of the topic.
This new “rolling library” helps to keep movement in the building down and encourages students to read for learning. One Kindergarten teacher said “Hodson Kindergarten loves our rolling book cart!! It allows Mrs. Farabough to pull books for many different themes all at one time and the Kindergarten teachers have them accessible at any time throughout the school day.” The third-grade teachers appreciate the books carts when they are studying a specific topic or genre. “It is so nice to have a large group of books at our fingertips. Thank you, OEF!”