School: Presho Elementary & Lyman High School, Presho, SD
Teacher: Mrs. Cropsey, 3rd - 5th Grade Teacher
Project: To give students a comfortable and warm place to explore the world of books rather than sitting on a concrete floor.
The Students The school library is full of students from elementary (K -5th) all the way through high school (9th-12th). With this age diversity, the facility has an abundance of traffic and use by eager readers. Mrs. Cropsey loves that her students are excited to be in the library, whether they are there for reading time or just stopping in for a moment to see "What's New" and check out a book. The school setting is generally rural with nearly half of the students commuting to school from over 40 miles away.
The Project Mrs. Cropsey's project is to get Comfy Floor Seats to add comfort and cheerful color to the school's library. The current library has a few work tables with hard straight back chairs and the floor is carpet covered concrete. Obtaining Comfy Floor seating for the space would allow many students to have a soft snug place to enjoy reading. For some of the students, reading can be a needed escape from their daily lives, plus everyone knows reading makes for an academically well rounded student! The kids' futures depend on being successful in school. This improvement in their library time could make a very big difference in the quality of their reading. Along with leading to their academic success they will also know that someone cared enough to help provide these Comfy Floor Seats for them.
After fully funding this project, Mrs. Cropsey wrote back to us saying,
"Dear EmpireCovers.com,
Our students are using our new soft spot seating to their fullest. When the elementary students come to library time I have been drawing names to give everyone a fair chance to enjoy them as the class sizes are bigger than the amount of seating. Their reading time is totally silent as they are so comfortable in their new seats. One student said it reminded her of being in her bed at home! To others, it is a comfort they may not even get to experience at home.
All ages of students that utilize the library (k-5 and 9-12) have shown tons of excitement about the chairs. A lot of ooo's and ahhh's were the first response as they are so colorful and bright! The students all asked if they could be the first ones to sit in them as I presented them to each class.
We track reading progress quite heavily throughout the year with our elementary kids. Providing comfortable quiet reading time like these seats afford us is very important. Therefore, I hope to request more seats in the future so that full classes can enjoy them all at the same time. But for now these have made such an exciting addition to our library that we are just thankful for the ones we have! PS - Another bonus of the chairs is they also encourage good behavior so the privilege of using them is not taken away!
Thank you again for your heartfelt donation! Your generosity has not gone unnoticed."
Her students also sent us handwritten thank you letters, which we all enjoyed reading. You can help support teachers in your area by going to www.DonorsChoose.org
