Dear Team Vicki Soto,
I cannot thank you enough for always supporting the children, parents, and teachers of our town, most recently through your town-wide book drive. Please know that as a teacher, it was such an overwhelmingly wonderful feeling to see how many people were willing to donate books to benefit our children and classrooms. These books will be treasured once again, and will quickly find their way into the hands of eager readers.
So many teachers have students with a wide range of reading abilities and strengths. To be able to find books at these students’ instructional level was meaningful in ways that go beyond reading skills and ability. Providing a child with a book that he or she is able to read successfully helps us to give them the confidence and motivation to continue to learn and grow.
New teachers, or those who are new to a grade level, were able to walk away with bags and boxes of books, which they will use to start or add to their classroom libraries. Many or most of the books available for children to read in their classrooms are purchased or supplied by the classroom teachers themselves. The Team Vicki Soto book drive gave Stratford teachers a place to go to find valuable resources that will support our students’ individual needs, interests, and their self-confidence.
It is so incredibly moving to see all of the wonderful and impactful ways Team Vicki Soto continues to honor Vicki’s legacy of love and learning. The town-wide book drive which supported our teachers and students, the Miss Soto Free Library, as well as the Miss Soto’s Literacy Legacy programs are just some of the ways that she continues to make a difference in the lives of children. Because of the wonderful work that you do, all of our students in Stratford are, in a way, “Vicki’s kids.”
On behalf of the teachers of Stratford, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Melissa Swanson Grade 4 Wilcoxson School
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