MOULTRIE, Ga. — This month, Colquitt County Schools was named a First Book Connectivity Mini-Grant recipient to provide more than 600 books for its classrooms and fund internet devices for students to use this summer and fall.  

The First Book grant aims to improve internet access for students in Title I schools, which make up the bulk of the county’s schools. In total, the district will receive $5,000 to purchase devices and fund internet service.

Allen Edwards, the district’s director of K-12 Gifted Education and 3-12 Language Arts Curriculum, said the devices will prevent some of the academic loss that often occurs during the summer months.  

“Research tells us that students lose roughly 20% of their school-year gains during the two months they are away from our classrooms,” said Edwards, who noted that younger children and children from low-income households are especially vulnerable. “Many of the reading and math skills our students develop during the school year decay without frequent practice, creating learning gaps felt through high school and beyond.”

The grant will also provide district classrooms with books focused on science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) content. Edwards said the district ran its own mini-grant competition to determine which books to order. In all, 648 books across 152 different titles were purchased for 10 Colquitt County classrooms from seven different schools: Avis Sutton, Colquitt County High; Smith, Cox Elementary; Kristy Croft, Kim Greene, and Jason Suber, GEAR; Traci Clayton, Norman Park Elementary; Ashley Collins, Odom Elementary; Lauren Fallin and Jenna Griner, Okapilco Elementary; and Paula Baldwin, Stringfellow Elementary. 

Trish Lirio, director of STEAM Education for the district, said the grant provides a wonderful opportunity to foster students’ natural curiosity for the world. 

“It is imperative that we continue to grow their knowledge and understanding of the STEAM industries,” she said. “These STEAM books will help to spark the interest of our future leaders.”

According to its website, since 1992, First Book has distributed more than 200 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income communities in all 50 states and provinces in Canada. First Book reaches an average of five million children every year and supports more than a third of the estimated 1.3 million classrooms and programs serving children in need. Any educator can join the First Book Network, which now has more than 500,000 members who regularly receive coupon codes for free and discounted books to use in their classrooms.

For more information on First Book, please visit http://FirstBook.org.