Living Out Biblical Character Through Books

Each year in May, Mrs. Conrad plans a class activity or competition to get students excited about reading during the summer. She views it as her final opportunity to positively impact her students’ feelings about reading. In past years, her classes have decorated book spines, had a class vs. class reading competition, hosted a school-wide book drive to build our own English teacher’s libraries, used read-alouds, and designed new book jackets.

This year, however, Mrs. Conrad was motivated to do something different—something lasting and impactful that connected to her course’s theme of living out biblical character. So, she pitched the idea of a book drive for a different school out to her students. They loved it!

Together, her classes chose a Christian school in the city that serves many families without easy access to books. This school plans to gift each student with a book of their choice during the last week of school.

Mrs. Conrad thought some of her students might donate their copies of “The Outsiders” and “Romeo & Juliet” from this year and call it a day, but they surpassed her wildest expectations. After only two weeks, she had almost 700 books to deliver to the school!

“We’ve been able to chat about living out the biblical character we’ve studied this year while hosting a friendly competition for a good cause, and I’m so proud of my students’ giving spirits,” Mrs. Conrad says.