Elementary students and teachers at MOBOCES are one step closer to having dedicated literacy centers in each classroom, thanks to funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.

The foundation’s $120,000 grant allowed our elementary leaders to purchase new sets of age-appropriate decodable books for each of our 17 classrooms, along with modular storage and flexible seating to create reading spaces for our K-7 learners. It also funded extensive professional development for staff on the science of reading and literacy instruction. Teachers are already seeing improvement in student vocabulary, comprehension and engagement after about six months of using these strategies.

Building foundational literacy skills has been a strong focus of our elementary program. However, our main elementary center moved from our Verona campus to the former North Broad Elementary School in Oneida two years ago, and the new building does not have a traditional school library. This grant creates mini-libraries within each classroom at our North Broad, J.D. George and Morrisville-Eaton elementary sites, with our School Library System staff assisting with the book selections.

“We don’t have a library in a traditional sense, so each teacher keeps their own, personal library. And up until this point, it hasn’t been curated the way that this would be,” Principal Wil Mecum said. “This grant allows us to have a very nice selection of readable books and challenging books for each classroom.”

The elementary team unveiled the first classroom literacy center in June, on the last day of the school year, with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony. Students in Lydia Atwell’s K-2 class explored the books, bins and furniture in this new corner of their classroom.

Atwell said she plans to incorporate the space into her daily learning centers, creating a free reading station where students can read to themselves or read aloud to a stuffed animal or adult.
 

“We’re really excited to get some new furniture and some awesome, new books,” she said. “I’m super excited for some books that they’re able to read themselves. I think it will really help them and inspire a love of reading.”
 

The remaining classroom libraries will be ready for the fall.