Sherwood Forest has abundance of books thanks to teachers, parents

Published 12:53 pm Monday, March 23, 2015

Sherwood Forest has a robust reading program, thanks in large part to English-language learners teacher Yelena Alexander and resource room teacher Alicia Rogers, and a group of parent volunteers.

Alexander is a grant-writer extraordinaire, according to Federal Way Public Schools officials. She is able to acquire grants for books, iPads and then more books.

“We are wonderfully blessed with an abundance of books,” said Principal Alisa DeSart.

Most recently, Sherwood Forest received a donation of 81 books from author Mo Willems, who partnered with First Book to provide brand new books to children across the country.

And it’s not the first time.

“Every time she applies for a grant, she seems to get it,” DeSart added.

Many of the books are provided in multiple languages, and they aren’t all fiction. This helps Sherwood’s students meet the new state requirements that children do a significant amount of nonfiction text reading, as well as fiction.

In addition to the books, Alexander has pulled together a team of parents, many of whom don’t speak English, to manage a book exchange program. Once or twice a week, the parent volunteers bring a book cart from room to room and call on children to exchange books — something like a rolling library. At the end of the summer, Sherwood students go home with a bag of books to enjoy throughout the summer.

DeSart feels that the program has helped students who may not have been on track in reading originally develop a real love for it and an appreciation of books.