Community Influencer: Literacy Inside and Outside of School
By Tyler McClure
Christie Burnham is a kindergarten assistant teacher at Imagine Me Charter School in Brooklyn, New York. She has been working as an educator at the school since 2021. After learning about Brooklyn Book Bodega during the pandemic at a book giveaway, Christie Burnham grew interested and wondered how she could contribute to the Brooklyn community. She kept in touch and was able to gain access to books for her classroom. Christie puts in book requests, shows up to Big Book Parties with her family, comes to Community Days to select books, and even hosts her own sidewalk book giveaway in her neighborhood during the summer.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Christie about her relationship with Brooklyn Book Bodega and how we have helped her to encourage literacy in the classroom. Read more to find out how Christie uses Brooklyn Book Bodega to pursue goals as an educator and how she has influenced her community both inside and outside her school.
A Day in the Classroom
The day starts at 7:30 am. So the kids come in, I usually set up, have them greet and we put on some oldies music. We dance a little bit before we start our day and then they go over to the library. They choose a book that they want to read, and sometimes the students want to read to me and they're like, “Oh, Ms. Burnham, oh, this is the sight word that we learn. This is what the sight word looks like.” So they feel empowered when they can read to me or the lead teacher that's in the room. So we read for a little bit, have breakfast, and then around 8:30 we start our instruction with our morning meeting. We say the school creed and then we do our morning circle dance, then we talk about our feelings, and the students talk about how their day prior went or how they're feeling or what they would like to learn. And then I'll read aloud….that's where the kids have so many questions or make connections to the story that's being read. Then they do a writing piece about what they read, followed by phonics.
Using Reading Time to Pursue Goals as an Educator
Reading builds self-confidence. For the month of April where we were talking about poems, they had to use their imagination to create their own writing piece, a poem about an object. One [student] wrote about a cookie and they described how the cookies remind them of certain things, how it tastes, how it makes them feel. They also wrote about size, how they feel by being small, and how they're feeling big. It just makes them use their imagination when we read them original poetry. And, it's just amazing. When they use their imagination, they're thinking. We have them close their eyes, and just try to picture the poem or picture them with the story, like how they can retell it on their own. Then we have them not only write but draw how they interpret the story or a poem that was read.
Brooklyn Book Bodega in the Classroom
In the classroom, I get as much as I can. What I do, is I set up some for the school library, for the classroom library, and the excess that I have, I send home to the students to build up their library. When the older students found out I was receiving books it was like, “Oh, Ms. Burnham, can you get me this? Can you get me this book?” So I usually give it to the older students at the school as well. Also, I give them away as reinforcements or tokens. We use this app called Class Dojo where they can earn points for good behavior, and positive hard work, and they can either buy or use their points for toys or some of them use it to get their books as well.
Book Access Impact Beyond The Classroom
I have some parents….[that live] in a shelter, they don't have any books. So when I brought back the books and had a book giveaway, they were saying thank you because they don't have a personal library at home. For homework, we assign a reading log, most of them [students] couldn't do it because they didn't have any personal books at home. Also, some parents are like, “My child is struggling.” Some of them [students] are English language learners as well. So they talked about how they were struggling in the beginning. But one particular student just started not too long ago and she is picking up on the language really fast and she feels like, “Oh look, I found this word, look.” They take pride in ownership and like most of the other parents were saying, “Oh yes, I noticed that my child was able to read to me.”
On Building Positive Relationships With Reading
It's just for them to have that early relationship with the love of reading because right now…. I'm not knocking technology, but I feel like technology is taking the younger kids' imagination away. I feel like starting them now, with books or giving them the love of holding an actual book, turning the pages, like making up their own scenarios, visual scenarios of the story as they read. Building up their confidence in finding the sight words and being able to sound out [words] knowing the blends….we are learning BR blends and CL blends. They're like, “Oh, this is what we learned!” And it just makes us feel proud knowing that they can identify what we're learning in class and then bring it to the books that they're reading.
Impact on the School
The teachers [from] the higher grades, noticed the free books that I give out …. they applaud the books that I bring back because I bring them for their classroom as well. And they appreciate that I bring it back because it helps build up their classroom library.
Having Brooklyn Book Bodega being involved in our community events that we have at the school. I mentioned to the principal, that this will be great when we have our back-to-school night. because they provided 500 books for us for back-to-school night and open houses provide books for new families.
Influencing the surrounding community
In my neighborhood, during the pandemic, I did a food drive and I gave away Pampers. Some of my friends who were a part of another organization gave out books. And I was like, you know what? I want to continue this, but I just want to have more connections within the community. So this summer I would like to - if willing - with Brooklyn Book Bodega, during the summer break, I would like to set up a table and give out books for students in my front yard. Like, hey, you could get a free book during the summer to read, and maybe for our block party, I would like to set up a table as well. Like just push it, push it, push literacy
Christie’s Thoughts On Brooklyn Book Bodega
They're amazing. They reach out to all, not just East New York, but all neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn. And they're doing an amazing job of reaching out to areas that have low income, schools that are low performing. So I just would like for them to continue to reach out to those [communities]. I mean, they are amazing, for them to be out there in the trenches during the pandemic. And I saw them a few months back last year on Channel 7 News. I was like, “Oh my gosh, they made it.” So I'm happy that they are getting the recognition that they deserve because this is an amazing program.
A Few of Christie’s Favorite Books
The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Peanuts Happiness is… by Charles M. Schulz
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
Superfudge by Judy Blume
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Christie also has a love for poetry, some of her favorite poets are Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin. She also loves books written by BIPOC authors. As a mother, Christie ensures her children have access to books with BIPOC representation. So when children pick up books they see someone that looks like them or has aspects that they can relate to.
Brooklyn Book Bodega has encouraged Christie to increase book access for her students and help build their foundational relationship with reading early. Christie’s relationship with Brooklyn Book Bodega has influenced other educators, so their classroom libraries are stocked. This relationship has also allowed students throughout Imagine Me Charter School to gain access to books through back-to-school events. My conversation with Christie revealed the many ways she has used and hopes to use Brooklyn Book Bodega to serve the community as an educator inside the classroom and outside of school.
Learn how you can get books for your community.
Tyler McClure attends St. Francis College and majors in Literature, Writing, & Publishing. She was Brooklyn Book Bodega’s spring 2024 intern.
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