OLPE — Kindergarten students at Olpe Elementary School are collecting books to send to children in Ethiopia.
The book drive started this past week and will go through May 6.
The Olpe kindergarten students' book drive is for the Ethiopia Reads Project.
Nyman said Ethiopia Reads was selected because many of the book drive projects involve raising funds to ship the books. The kindergarten classroom did not have the capability of doing that.
Nyman said after talking with ESU professor, Elizabeth Dobler, associate professor in elementary teacher education, she learned about the Kansas Reading Association website, through which she found Ethiopia Reads.
“Respect is a very important concept we instill in the students and by doing such a project, they are able to see how important their actions are to those around them. They feel good about doing this project and are excited to see it through,” Nyman said.
The students challenge everyone to join in on the project. All new and used books in good condition may be placed in the donation box at Olpe Elementary School.
The idea started in Sheila Broyles’ classroom when Tonya Nyman, an intern from Emporia State University, started talking about a book in the classroom with two students. The idea evolved into sending books to children who don’t get opportunities to read a box full of books.
Nyman said she wants to incorporate hands-on activities in the classroom and said she was thankful that Broyles supported the project.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Nyman said. “I’m very excited.”
And it’s the kindergarten students’ job to inspect each book as it comes in. The children carefully check each books for marks or torn pages.
During a lesson on citizenship, Nyman started talking to the students about what it means to be a good citizen.
“Be kind. Kindness is contagious,” Riley Nuessen said.
In fact, that’s the classroom’s motto, that kindness is contagious. And the students know what the motto means.
“It means if someone falls down you help them up and say, ‘It’s okay,’” Kaitlyn Countryman said.
Broyles told the students that if they do a good deed maybe somebody will be good to them in return.
Nyman said: “We want to spread kindness.”
It also means when playing a game not to call somebody a loser if they don’t win, the children said.
“We’re all winners,” said Truman Bailey.
Nyman holds a map in front of the students, who then say that there are seven continents. The children also point out that Ethiopia is across the ocean far, far away.
Broyles explains to the students that the Ethopian children might not be able to read the books, which will be in English, at first.
But when the kindergarten students first came to school, some didn’t know how to read, or count to 10 in Spanish or know sign language.
They do now.
“They’re going to learn just like we learn,’ Broyles said. “They want to learn and have books just like we do.”
Broyles and Nyman said the class will probably make the Ethopian children a card and attach a classroom photo with it.
The students are also learning more about Ethiopia. The children there don’t have a lot of books. In fact, 99 percent of children don’t have books. They don’t have writing utensils, either, and they write on the ground with sticks.
On Wednesday morning Nyman and Broyles showed the kindergarten students a video of children in Ethiopia receiving books.
Nyman and Broyles will send the books to Ethiopia through an organization called Ethiopia Reads. Once the books arrive there, two donkeys pull the books on a large wagon.
On the video Ethopian children follow the donkeys pulling the books while singing and chanting.
“They’re excited to get the books,” Broyles told her kindergarten class.