Gary Harker
Illustration: Maya Ichikawa
SOME MIGHT SAY IT WAS AN EPIPHANY. In the fall of 2007 Teacher Michelle Dimnik, while skimming through Reading Today, an American bi-monthly newspaper for literacy professionals, chanced upon an article with a four-word headline: “One School, One Book.” She read the story and had a sudden realization. She took the newspaper and a proposal to her Principal, Bill Bartlett of Dr. Gerald B. Probe Elementary School. He signed on, and the school has not been the same since.
Probe Elementary was the first Canadian school to launch a One School, One Book project. In the ensuing two years all students at Probe Elementary have twice united in reading their personal copy of a single book together. Not in school, but at home. Not on their own, but in most cases with their mother or father reading to them, and to any brothers or sisters within earshot. At school there is a trivia quiz every morning on the previous evening’s reading assignment. “The teachers and staff keep it going, planning activities,fuelling the fire, piquing the curiosity and interest. But the reading happens at home,” Michelle explains.
This past fall has seen the search for book number three. “The hardest part of the One School, One Book project is choosing the right book to read,” Michelle says. It must be a book that engages both the first graders and the students in Grade 5. Kindergarten students can decide whether or not they want to be involved. Most do.
For the full story pick up the current issue of Lethbridge living Magazine
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