Give A Child A Book

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'I got excited when I heard the book fair is coming,' students at Bradford Elementary receive a fun gift

Bradford Elementary
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PUEBLO — The 'If You Give A Child A Book' campaign visited Bradford Elementary in Pueblo on Wednesday.

KOAA News5, along with the Scripps Howard Fund, partnered with several schools across southern Colorado to provide students with free books to take home. Each donation goes to helping students learn to read at a higher level.

All week, students at Bradford Elementary got to pick out a brand new book. They got the chance to choose five brand new books that they thought were the most intriguing and take them home for free.

Bradford Elementary

“A lot of times when we have a book fair, students can't afford to have a book here, they're giving five. That means we're expanding their opportunity to learn outside of the classroom and outside of school. Plus it gives the kids a sense of ownership, because now they have books they own. They have books that they picked. It's stuff that they want to learn and they want to follow. So, that's what makes it pretty exciting,” said Ms. Jennifer Hyslop.

Large stacks of best sellers and shelves stuffed with stories, tales and chapter books filled the school's library.

“I got excited when I heard the Book Fair is coming, because I always like picking my books,” said one fifth grader. “I got 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid.' It is good. I like the books because I've read a few of them before."

The goal of the campaign is to inspire students to read more outside of school, as well as advance student literacy.

“The kids learn and they advance faster. They accelerate through reading,” Hyslop said.

In 2024, only 17% of students at Bradford Elementary met or exceeded expectations for reading on the Colorado Measures of Academic Success annual state test. Ms. Hyslop said reading more will help improve students' reading ability.

“Plus it helps them in their other classes and their other academic skills, because once you read, reading is the foundation of everything we do,” said Ms. Hyslop.

This year at the book fair, they expanded a section full of books written in Spanish.

Bradford Elementary

“When I heard we were getting all the Spanish books I was pretty excited, because we have a lot of Spanish speaking students here. But what amazed me is, when I started seeing the kids that speak English coming through, checking these books out, I want to ask them, you know, 'that's written in Spanish?' They go, 'yes, I want to learn Spanish so I can speak with my friend.' I was really humbled by the fact that these kids are taking the learning on themselves and that they chose to do this, and our Spanish speaking kids took them, and they're excited because it's stuff that they can read to their parents, and the parents will understand,” said Ms. Hyslop.

She said books bring imagination and adventure to these students' lives.

“Some of the kids never go on vacation. Every time you read a book, you go on a trip, you go on a you go to a magic land, you go wherever the book is. And so some of the kids can't afford to go to movies or some of that stuff. Now, (they) can do it in their minds. Some of them get bored. They don't get to go a lot of places, but through books, they get to do wherever they want. I get to go to space. In books, I get to experience things that we might never experience here on Earth, because it's not earth things, but I get to do it when I read and so the kids are learning that,” said Ms. Hyslop.

Bradford Elementary

Ms. Hyslop said she hopes the children will leave the library with more than just new books to read.

“A sense of more community, and a sense of gratitude for the people that bought those books for them. The people that donated to this are doing an incredible thing for our community and students and it's something that's humbling because in today's world, we don't have a lot of giving. This is huge that they're given this opportunity,” said Ms. Hyslop.

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Wednesday rain & snow showers minimal as heavier snow moves in Thursday

An incoming storm will move into the Four Corners Region on Wednesday, with increasing wintry threats for Southern Colorado.

Wednesday rain & snow showers minimal as heavier snow moves in Thursday

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