Oakmont Book Drive for Book Buddies Project

Stories on Wheels and Bookcase Buddies Mission Trip in Helena Arkansas

For the

Helena AR Mission Book Drive

we need new or gently used books on the following topics:

• Bible Stories [especially with book characters shown as people of color]
• African American Family Life
• Fiction and nonfiction Books about Animals, Gardening, Careers
• Healthy Living and Dental Care
• Sports [especially African Americans role models]
• Other like-new books your own children have enjoyed but outgrown

The children’s ages range from preschool to grade 6.

Overview of Stories on Wheels (SOW) Mission

We will serve near Helena Arkansas, in a very under-resourced area, a mixture of about 40 – 60 children with a wide age range. The SOW bus travels to rural areas (previously to Lakeview and Elaine, Ark.) to provide children with a week of fun and Gospel teaching in the Delta sun. In the Book Buddies project, volunteers are matched to individual children to build their own bookcase which they will personalize and select a few books to take home. The “Jesus Storybook Bible” will be provided for all the Book Buddies. Oakmont will donate a portion of the Bibles.

See--  http://tinyurl.com/HelenaMission

We would like to make sure every child can select at least one additional book to add to their bookshelf.  Leave your book(s) in the book collection box located at "Grand Central" at Oakmont Baptist Church.

Plans with Elkin First Baptist and Oakmont Square Apt.

Our plans are to combine our team with First Baptist Church of Elkin. Betty Pittman, a member of Elkin [see photo] has experience with the Helena mission because the church has sent teams for three years. Betty spent the week traveling on the Stories on Wheels bus to Elaine, Ark., where they held a children’s camp that included basketball, games and a Bible story.  “We’re planting the seed, believing – even though you can’t see – that the seed will sprout,” she said.

For July 2011, our plans are to work with children in the morning and parents in the afternoon. Our mission is to bring activities for literacy skills which ultimately help children to read the Bible and Bible Stories. We will use VBS lessons on the life of Joseph as our curriculum.  We will replace the usual craft for VBS with the Book Buddies activities. Our team members will be assigned a book buddy to build a bookcase through the four days in the camp.

Day 1: sand the shelves
Day 2: paint the shelves
Day3 : assemble the shelves
Day 4: personalize the bookshelf and select your own books.

We will be working with 60 children. Pray for additional copies for Bible Storybook from donations. Pray also for suitable book donations for children's personal bookshelves.

On June 21, I have asked for the opportunity to work with OSA children to give a trial run on some of the flap book and other literacy projects. If you are free that afternoon, I hope to schedule the fellowship hall 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm at Oakmont Baptist. We'll explain that the activities are planned for our mission in Helena and ask for their feedback on what we are doing.

Literacy and Learning Book Buddies

Oakmont Baptist Church in Greenville NC is going to Helena Arkansas to share in the All Church Challenge with Ben and Leonora Newell. We look forward to working with our friends who have a long time mission established through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the community of Helena AR. In preparation for this trip (July 16, 2011) we are planning literacy projects. We are sharing resources with the Newells, our OBC Team, and you. We have four ideas: 1) Bookcase Buddies with Read alouds; 2) Lapbooks showing what we learned; 3) Readers' Theater; 4) Parent Workshops for Reading with your Children and Grandchildren.



Lapbooks to Extend Reading and Learning

1. LapBook Projects. These come from a variety of sources. Please note the creator and developers of these websites.

• Lapbooks  Videos
• Videos showing different formats for the book projects. Lapbooks are file folders layed open in the child's lap. Small flap books are glued to the folders to enhance the reading experience and help the child make a personal connection to books.
• Second   Flap Books
• These are simple paper books that are created by children for re-telling a story.
• Third  Bookmarking Books
• Bookmark Books are a collection of bookmarks created by children and linked together with ties or rings.
• Fourth   Step Book
• These are created by chidren to teach the sequence of a story or help the child see relationships in a book.
• Fifth Nothing but paper book
• The simplest of folded books that can be created with nothing but sheets of paper.
• Sixth Creation Book--- the small flap books are pasted into the large lapbook made with two file folders.
• This template is one of several that is public domain images of Bible Stories. These are perfect inserts for lapbooks.

2. Bookcase Buddies and Read Alouds.

• Lapbooks created from published books. Paper books can be purchased, cut and pasted to cardboard for creating a lap book used for story telling.
• Big Book concentration game. Pictures cut from paper books can be used to create a concentration memory game. Matched pictures or match pictures to key words win rewards for each match.



3. Reading with your children and grandchildren. These resources can be used with a Parent Literacy Workshop.

Simple demonstrations and practice session will help parents learn to keep their child's attention during reading time. Games add to the fun of read alouds. A variety of techniques and steps for creating the games are presented.

• Grandparents and Literacy
• Reading with your child
• Resources from the U.S. Dept of Education
• Doing What Works

4. Readers Theater.
This is always popular with young and mid-level readers. No costumes or sets are needed. The stories are dynamic and motivational for readers.

Readers’ Theater ideas and scripts.

Ø     http://suzyred.com/readertheater.html

Ø     http://www.dramatix.org/archive/Linkpages/Bible.html

Ø     http://mysite.verizon.net/vze4p7te/foolsforchrist/id39.html

Here is a favorite book we like to give to others. You may have seen this at the National CBF conference. Sharing Jesus with Children Around the World.

I also located the link to the wonderful Jesus Storybook Bible. I've download this to my phone.