Raise-A-Reader funds support programs like the Greendale Acres field trip. Total funds raised in B.C. from 1997 to date is $23,265,962.94.
This past spring, 50 preschool and elementary children, along with their caregivers, visited a local farm inspired by the book School is Wherever I Am, by Ellie Peterson.
The Greendale Acres Interactive Learning Experience was arranged by the Chilliwack Central Elementary Community School Society and the Chilliwack Learning Society. The latter drew on Raise-A-Reader funds for the excursion.
“We always try to do something that covers all the bases,” said Denise Moore, manager at Central Sockeye Preschool in Chilliwack.
“We wanted to promote literacy in our classroom. And then the parents and caregivers came with our preschoolers. And we were also able to invite the two kindergarten classes at our school, which promotes that transition from our little preschool children into the kindergarten classrooms at the school.”
Raise-A-Reader funds support programs like the Greendale Acres field trip. Total funds raised in B.C. from 1997 to date is $23,265,962.94.
This year’s campaign runs Sept. 20 to 27, and The Vancouver Sun and The Province are once again asking readers to donate and help fund literacy programs in B.C.
The Greendale Acres field trip included a hayride, seed-planting and more. The Bruinsma family started the farm in 1999. In 2020 the family’s three daughters, who grew up on the farm, took over with their husbands.
“They set up this beautiful area where the children were able to do some activities with soil and counting and examining bulbs and petting the animals and jumping on a giant jumping pillow,” Moore said. “It was so cute. It’s just one of those places that is a catch-all for learning, for gross motor activities, for everything.”
The parents of the kids “were overjoyed,” she said.
“We’re an inner-city school in the heart of Chilliwack, so not a lot of our families could afford this field trip on their own. And then the kindergarten families were also overjoyed, because, again, that’s not something that they would typically do on their own with their kids.”
Before the field trip, a volunteer reader came to the preschool to read from the book, School is Wherever I Am.
“I can’t even count how many times we read it. We also have a little lending library in our preschool classroom, and that book is in that lending library. So prior to the field trip, the children were able to go through the book and take it home if they wanted. And then when they all got a copy of it, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh. Best day ever.’ ”
The trip got the kids out of the classroom, which was one of the organizers’ goals.
“We really wanted to extend learning outside of the classroom, especially with summer break was coming. It’s great that parents have a little eye into what they can do with their children, and not feel like their kids have to stay at home on an iPad learning ABCs. They can go outside, and they’re learning in the real world, which is so much more valuable.”
Moore says that the Greendale Acres Interactive Learning Experience wouldn’t have been possible without Raise-A-Reader.
“For a little preschool like ours, to be able to find the funds to do things like this is nearly impossible. We’re a non-profit, so we work under the community school umbrella and rely on parent fees to do everything.
“Occasionally we’ll get a small grant or we sometimes have Lions Clubs that help us out. But essentially, the Chilliwack Learning Society and the Raise-A-Reader campaign have been instrumental in giving us funds to be able to do so much more in our program. We’re always so grateful.”