NOEL LYN SMITH
FARMINGTON - Apache Elementary School students’ faces brightened as they browsed a selection of free books on Tuesday.
The books were provided by the Rio Del Sol Kiwanis Club, which
purchased 1,000 books from Scholastic with money from a fundraiser in
September and October.
Trenae Toledo, 10, selected the young adult novel, “Someone Named
Eva,” and “Help! We Have Strange Powers,” which are part of the
“Goosebumps HorrorLand” book series.
“I’m planning to read them and take them home,” the fourth-grader
said, then added that she initially did not like reading but her
interest changed after reading with her mom each day.
Now that Toledo has developed a love for reading, she devotes as much time as possible to books, she said.
Helping students develop their reading skills and providing them with
books to call their own is the focus of a project by Kiwanis.
Apache Elementary serves kindergarten to fifth-grade students and is
one of eight Title I elementary schools in the Farmington Municipal
School District. The U.S. Department of Education defines a Title I
school as having a high number or high percentage of children from
low-income families.
The department provides supplemental funding to Title I schools to meet state standards and educational goals.
Kiwanis president Bob Lehmer said approximately 250 tickets were sold
that provided a free lunch or dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Farmington
as part of the fundraiser.
The organization raised approximately $5,200 and received a $2,200
donation from the San Juan Regional Medical Center for the project.
In addition to the books, Kiwanis presented a check for $2,921.16 for theschool’s library fund.
Throughout the morning, students walked into reading specialist Sandra Fusco’s classroom, then browsed theavailable titles before making a selection.
Books were sorted by grade level and displayed on tables. If studentshad questions about the books, Kiwanis members helped with answers.
“This is such an honor and blessing for our children,” Fusco said.
Fusco said the books were appropriate for students from kindergarten to fifth grade and a mixture of fiction and nonfiction.
Among the popular titles were a “Barbie Story Collection,” “Buzz Boy
and Fly Guy,” “SpongeBob Soccer Star” and “Zeus: King of the Gods.”
“Reading is key to their whole life,” Fusco said.
One of the books that fifth-grader Ashton Sullins selected was “Forces
of Nature,” which had photographs of lightning, tornadoes and
thunderstorms on its cover. Sullins, 10, said he picked the book
because it would help him learn about the weather. He also selected “Leo
the Snow Leopard” because, “I like animals and I want to learn about
them.”
Fifth-grader Audree Clark said her book “Attack of the Vampire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales” looked interesting.
“I love peace and quiet and reading,”Clark, 11, said.
Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-546-4636.
Alyssa
Begay, second from right, quickly grabs a book about Taylor Swift
Tuesday during a giveaway at Apache Elementary School in Farmington.
JON AUSTRIA/THE DAILY TIMES
Illustration by Rafael López from 
As part of our ongoing commitment to promote literacy and celebrate
cultural diversity, First Book is proud to announce that we are working
with author and poet Pat Mora to present the annual Estela and Raúl Mora
Award in 2016!
