South Campus Library

Welcome back to an exciting new school year at Seneca Grade School! I have some amazing news to share with the South Campus RTI, 7^th and 8^th grade students! For the 2010-2011 school year these students will be using the e-reader, Amazon Kindle, in their RTI and Literature/Language Arts classes once again. We’ve expanded last year’s pilot Kindle experiment into a full- fledged Kindle program. With the full support of Mr. Misener, Mr. Severson, Mrs. McGhee, and the Seneca Grade School Board of Education we are now offering this new reading format to our students.

Below is a post from my book blog, “Marianslibrary,” which I recently released in conjunction with the arrival of our brand new Kindle jackets from M-EDGE Accessories. The feature explains how the partnering with M-EDGE Accessories developed.

Mrs. Parker

M-EDGE Accessories Contributes to Kindle Program for Illinois Middle School!

Isn’t it astounding how people’s paths cross in so many diverse ways? Just by sharing a story about someone with another person can sometimes lead to a unique partnership. This is what exactly happened to me about six months ago. Last fall I assisted in developing a pilot Kindle program at our middle school, Seneca Grade School, in Seneca, Illinois. I had full support from my administrators and the Board of Education to pursue this new venture in education. Prior to setting up the pilot program I searched for those educators who had already successfully put such a program into place. I found the numbers were small but a few stepped up to lend a hand with my task. One of these educators was, Will Delamater, the creator of Edukindle.com. (Read about Will’s visit this past summer to our school here) Along with the small teacher/administrator Kindle committee, Will was a constant help always ready to answer any questions I sent his way. In the fall of 2009 I joined his Edukindle.ning.com website for educators using Kindles. I posted questions and eventually I was helping other educators who were testing the e-book waters.

Now fast forward to early 2010. One morning I opened an email from Will stating he had had coffee with Patrick Mish, the CEO of M-EDGE Accessories. Will mentioned our pilot program to him and the possibility that our entire 8^thgrade students would each be receiving Kindles to use in their Literature/Language Arts class in the fall of 2010. Will made the necessary introductions to Patrick and me and a plan was proposed. M-EDGE Accessories would donate Kindle jackets for all of our Kindles! Not only were we to receive jackets but the jackets would be in our school colors with our Seneca Grade School name hand-stitched on each one! This was truly amazing and unbelievable! Prior to the final decision as to which jacket would be used, Patrick Mish sent our students a variety of jackets to try out last spring. There were two which were very popular with the students. They were the Latitude Jacket and the Leisure Jacket. These are the two jackets the students will be using this fall. Not only will the 8^th graders have new Kindle jackets but also our 7^th grade students will as well. The Board of Education approved the purchase of the Kindles for each 8^th grade student in the spring and as a result we were able to proceed with the preparations.

I want to thank Patrick Mish, his team, especially Genevieve Post, at M-EDGE Accessories who worked so closely with me on this project over the last couple of months and to Will Delamater for establishing the connection! I want to express thanks to Caitlin Mills, of Planit Agency! We are very grateful to all of you for your contribution and involvement in our Kindle program at Seneca Grade School! Never in a million years would I have dreamed of this transpiring but it has become a reality! I’m anxious to share these with our students in the upcoming weeks!