2009 Books to the Trail project: The seventh grade students at O’Rourke Middle School in Burnt Hills, NY
are super psyched to be helping out with the “Books to the Trail” project.
Right now, they are in the process of collecting money to purchase copies
of the book Woodsong by Gary Paulsen and have them sent through Scholastic
Books to students along the Iditarod trail.
After reading Woodsong where Paulsen describes his adventures training for
and running the 1983 Iditarod, and studying more about the race on
Iditarod.com, O’Rourke’s seventh graders wanted to help out. The initial
idea came from O’Rourke seventh grader Wyatt Sawyer who asked his teacher
if the class could sponsor a musher. Other students were immediately
interested, and since Gary Paulsen was on the list of registered mushers
for 2009, they wanted to support him in any way possible.
Diane Johnson, education coordinator of the Iditarod, told O’Rourke that
Paulsen would rather that any donations to support him be sent to schools
along the Iditarod trail in the form of books. O’Rourke students loved
this idea, especially knowing that they would be able to share their own
wonderful Woodsong experience with other students, and support Paulsen at
the same time. They are thrilled to be making a big difference in a
small way.
More to come….
To get involved with a service learning project such as Books to the Trail, (PDF Document) click here!
