With its first-ever campus grant from the Alvin ISD Education Foundation, Nichols Mock administrators and teachers decided on a project that would impact each student: a One School, One Book project that will bring the entire campus together while focusing on reading.
At the kick-off event last week, each student received a copy of the book J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard, illustrated by Akeek S. Robert, while getting hyped up for the project with help from the Iowa Colony High School drumline.
“We wanted our first campus grant from the Alvin ISD Education Foundation to be used for a project that would really speak to the core beliefs and values of our school,” Principal Sandy Holdsclaw said. “We wanted to highlight the importance of reading, and at the same time, build community.”
When asked why they chose this particular book, which follows 8-year-old J.D. as he turns a terrible at-home haircut into a barbering business, Holdsclaw and Hebert said they wanted to pick a more recent book that reflected the Nichols Mock students.
"This book has it all: family, school, friends, humor, and even some financial literacy! We get to see a realistic fiction book with a main character that could easily be a student in our school as he navigates challenges, and accomplishes some big things!" said Hebert.
Families received tips for reading at home and a Bingo card with reading related activities, as well as a five-week reading schedule to keep everyone on the same page.
“We created a Nichols Mock audiobook of the book, available to our families, with each chapter read by a mystery reader from the Nichols Mock Family,” said Librarian Kate Hebert. “Every day on the announcements classes can answer a trivia question to win a prize and once a week classes can answer a question about who the mystery reader for a certain chapter is to win a big prize!”
So far the response to the whole school reading event has been amazing and the students have even surprised teachers with how excited they are to be a part of something together, Herbert said. First grade teacher Katelyn Kroesch said her students had more reading logs completed since the One School, One Book kick-off than all year long!
“Teachers have caught kids reading the book while they wait for the bus, wait in the car rider line and during breakfast,” Hebert said.