Community

Volunteer Opportunities

Cultural Literacy Lessons

Books as Bridges needs your expertise! If you are familiar with a Books as Bridges region or country, consider volunteering for a Cultural Literacy Lesson! Cultural Literacy Lessons are offered to classrooms in Central Kentucky and serve as a great cultural learning experience for students. Cultural Literacy Lessons often consist of tasting ethnic food, making cultural crafts, and discovering similarities and differences between their own lifestyle and that of their international friends. For more information, or to learn what our partner countries/regions are for this school year, please contact the Books as Bridges Coordinator.

Special Events

Books as Bridges offers a year-end event, Weird & Wonderful, to bring students and their families together to showcase their achievements. Classroom-made display boards accompany colorful backdrops, international food, and cultural activities to take students and their families on a “trip around the world.” Come and help students learn from each other and celebrate cultural literacy! Please contact the Books as Bridges Coordinator for more information.

Sponsorship

Books as Bridges Classroom Partnerships     $300

Books as Bridges connects 60 classrooms in Central Kentucky with classrooms in the developing world, giving students a chance to relate their classroom education with real-life experiences. Pen-pals in developing countries, however, often do not have necessary school supplies, making it difficult to apply real-life experiences to learning in the classroom. As part of our mission, Books as Bridges strives to offer students better educational opportunities by sending a small shipment of books to our partners in the developing world. A Classroom partnership sponsors a shipment (books are supplied by the International Book Project), introductory sessions for teachers, and the management of the Books as Bridges partnership. Partnership sponsors receive recognition on the Books as Bridges website, and also receive a thank-you letter from the international partner.

Books as Bridges Cultural Literacy Lessons     $200

Students in Central Kentucky experience their partner country’s culture through a Cultural Literacy Lesson provided by Books as Bridges. Classrooms learn by tasting food from their partner country, making cultural crafts, and discussing similarities and differences between their lifestyle and that of their pen-pals. Please contact the Books as Bridges Coordinator for more information.

Rewards for the Top Service-Learning Projects

Service learning connects community service to classroom education through student-led projects. Each year, Books as Bridges classrooms participate in service-learning projects to benefit their partner classrooms. In doing so, students are able to exercise skills that are often difficult to teach in the classroom, such as teamwork and leadership. Books as Bridges service-learning projects have included:

• writing persuasive letters to local businesses to solicit needed school supplies for their partner classroom, and then getting community members involved to help ship the packages


• writing informal persuasive letters to their pen-pals explaining why they should read their favorite books and creating a fundraiser to provide books


• creating display boards of their partner country’s culture, and then showcasing it in the hallway of the school to teach other children about their pen-pals’ unique lifestyle

In-Kind Donations

Classroom Supplies

Books as Bridges is always in need of classroom supplies for students throughout their pen-pal experience. Needed supplies include:

Paper (White and Multiple Colors)	Markers
Glue	Invisible Tape
Glitter	Large Envelopes

Supplies for Cultural Literacy Lessons

• Costumes (from different parts of the world)


• Grocery Gift Cards (to buy ingredients for “cultural cuisine” sampling)


• Gas Gift Cards (for transportation for volunteers and Books as Bridges Coordinator to lesson)

Rewards for Classrooms with Most Successful Service-Learning Projects

• T-Shirts


• Pizza Party Supplies