By Justin Goulet (@JustinGoulet21)

Lethbridge School District 51 makes history with new book project

Mar 25, 2019 | 11:04 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – For the first time ever in Canada, students and staff from all schools in one district will read the same book at the same time.

On Monday morning, a special ceremony was held at Dr. Gerald B. Probe Elementary School in West Lethbridge to mark the monumental undertaking.

Students and staff from all of School District 51’s twenty-plus institutions will read “Wishtree” by Katherine Applegate over the course of the next couple of weeks as part of a project called One District One Book.

“We’re very excited about the book launch … we were able to purchase 13,000 copies of the book, which is no easy feat to do. There was lots of fundraising done by the district committee and they worked very hard to bring this dream to reality in our school district,” said Heather Hadford, Principal at Dr. Gerald B. Probe Elementary School.

“There’s a reading schedule that we’ll follow over the next two weeks so families will be able to read at home and those students who weren’t able to read at home will be caught up at school with lots of activities during the school day.”

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Hadford said the message they want to get out into the community focuses on literacy, the love of literacy and families reading together.

“Of course, there’s the underlying theme of the book, which is caring and sharing and welcoming people who are different than we are to our communities,” she added.

The book package for participants also includes a bookmark so students and adults can keep track of their progress. Those who want to join members of SD51 can purchase the book at Chapters and at the University of Lethbridge book store, as well as online.

The version of the book that students and staff will be reading includes a special cover, different than the one sold in stores and designed specifically for the One District One Book event.

AUTHOR’S VISIT

The author of “Wishtree”, Katherine Applegate, will be in Lethbridge to speak with students and the public on April 9.

She will be at Chinook High School, Winston Churchill High School during the day and at the University of Lethbridge for an evening presentation.

Some young students will be able to attend the presentation in person, while it will be live streamed for classrooms unable to attend during the day.

A WONDERFUL MESSAGE

Michelle Dimnik from the One District One Book committee was on hand for the launch.

The event also included speeches from Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman and School District 51 Superintendent Cheryl Gilmore. The school’s senior choir also performed a song for attendees.

Dimnik noted that the One District One Book project has been done before in the United States, but this will be the first time that High School students (grades 9 to 12) take part.

“We’re the first district ever to do it all the way from (kindergarten) to (grade) 12,” Dimnik said.

“It’s been a year of keeping this book secret. This book is an amazing story with themes of friendship and kindness and tolerance, and unfortunately intolerance and what we do when immigrants move into a community and how they’re welcomed and how they’re treated.”

She explained that the book is told from the perspective of a red oak tree.

“A wise tree who has seen so much of the neighbourhood over the years and the tree is having a hard time understanding why this new family that’s moved in is not being accepted,” Dimnik said.

“It’s a beautiful story that’s for every age and it has a message for all of us.”

In 2013, School District 51 hosted the Three Schools One Book initiative, where schools in West Lethbridge read the same book.

“That’s when I saw the magic, the magic of congregation, the magic of connections, the opportunity for students and families of all ages to come together and talk about a story and the message in the story. It built community and it strengthened those family bonds and literacy bonds. It just doesn’t get much better than that for a teacher like me whose passion is about literacy,” Dimnik added.

“Every single age group is going to be able to understand different levels of this book. It’s an opportunity within families and within communities to sort of have older students talk to younger students … I hope it influences our future generations in terms of how they treat others.”

Dimnik said the Read To Them organization in the United States started the general program around 2007 and Dr. Probe Elementary was the first school to come on board conducting the One School One Book initiative in 2008.

“Since that time, Dr. Probe School has done a One School One Book 11 times. This is their twelfth project, only this time it’s One District One Book. It’s a really big deal,” she said.

“We’re asking families, especially families that get multiple copies of this book, to consider donating back extra copies and then we are going to take those copies of ‘Wishtree’ and offer them to another school or school district that hasn’t done a One School One Book project before. So (we) pay it forward, with a great story.”

More details on the initiative can be found at 1d1blethbridge.wixsite.com/1d1b.