Three Oaks donates books
Three Oaks donates books to feeder schools
Kylie Pendergast and brothers Marco, Miguel and Mateo DelgadoKeough will have lots of books to read after a donation to Parkside School from students at Three Oaks Senior High (TOSH).
Kylie Pendergast and brothers Marco, Miguel and Mateo Delgado-Keough will have lots of books to read after a generous donation to Parkside School from students at Three Oaks Senior High (TOSH).
Erin Arsenault-Gallant and Melissa Molyneaux from TOSH visited the elementary school to drop off $1,000 of books purchased with the proceeds of the Tree Oaks Craft Fair last month.
“It’s a new initiative where they’re looking to pay it backwards,” said Parkside principal, Nick Martin. Arsenault-Gallant and Molyneaux delivered a basket full of books to Parkside recently. And, to sweeten the deal, TOSH principal Jeff Clow added 350 mini-candy canes, one for every student at the school.
This is the first year of a plan to give resources to each of the TOSH feeder schools as part of a new vision to promote literacy and numeracy in the Three Oaks family of schools, said Parkside principal Nick Martin.
“[Literacy] is a life skill that every child needs,” he said. “The stronger readers they are, research proves they’re going to be more successful professionals and in life.”
Arsenault-Gallant knows reading helps with high school.
“The stronger readers they are, the better the experience they’ll have,” she said. Molyneaux agreed. She’s been reading since she was young and is in the Advanced English class at TOSH.
“There’s a big divide between kids who were pushed to read when they were younger and to enjoy it and kids who weren’t pushed to read,” said ArsenaultGallant. “[Readers are] more studious, more focused, more driven to do well,” said Molyneaux. Both TOSH students enjoyed books that helped expand their view of life.
One of Molyneaux’s favourite reads is “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1932.
“I enjoy hearing how they thought back then,” she said.
Arsenault-Gallant likes to read everything, but mostly non-fiction. A novel she returns to time and again is “Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein.
“It’s written from the dog’s perspective,” she said. “It’s cool to see the human life from a different perspective.”
Mateo, in Grade 5 feels the same.
“I just like reading. I find out a lot of different new things when I read,” he said.
Miguel, Grade 3, enjoys nonfiction about animals.
Marco is just getting into reading in Grade 1. He said he likes learning by reading.
Kylie, Grade 2, is a fan of “Junie B. Jones” novels.
“I just started a new one, like two seconds ago.”