I'm a 5th grade teacher at a school in which 99 percent of the students are on free or reduced lunch. One morning a teacher entered my room and put down a list of students and asked me to go through the pages and confirm that the students highlighted were in my class. The list was so ling that I though for for it was a list of all the students enrolled in the school. But when I asked the teacher about it, she replied that it was a list of all the students registered as homeless. At that moment it felt like someone punched me right in the stomach. It bothered me. One of the reasons why I became a teacher was to make a difference in the world and at that moment I realized I was in the right place.
I want to change lives. I want to make a difference one book at a time. For every book that I sell I will personally deliver a copy of Nick's First Day to a family that is registered as a homeless or a family that is in need. There is a huge poverty problem in American and education is the solution.
Nick books will be a series of books written by Joseph Interdonato (a 5th grade teacher) and illustrated by Gary Lester (a paraprofessional and film student). The goal of our project is to captivate and educate children. We aim to provide families in need with books by matching each book sold with another given to such a family. The content of the books will be aimed at helping students with every day situations such as classroom procedures, responsibility, bullying, manners and more. Look for the first book in the series, "Nick's First Day," available soon!
