Over the summer, I was going through a lot of books I had read over the years. They were taking up a great deal of much needed space in my house. I wanted to take my books to one of the Little Lending Library boxes I had once read about. When I performed a search to locate one near my home, there wasn’t one in close proximity. The closest one I could find was in the Okolona area. That is when I had the initial thought to build a Little Lending Library to be placed near Maryville Elementary.

A few months later, the school year began. I did a library scavenger hunt with students in grades 3-5. One of the tasks students had was to find someone in their class that owned 10+ books. Much to my surprise, this turned out to be the most difficult task for students to complete in the third grade classes. The following week, I read the book The Hard Times Jar by Ethel Footman Smothers. The main character, Emma Turner, loves books and dreams of one day having the store-bought kind, but the Turners are migrant workers and money is tight. That means "no extras," so Emma must be content to make her own stories and books. Emma has a plan, though – she's going to save all the money she earns picking apples and put it in Mama's hard-times jar. Then there will surely be enough for extras. After reading the books, the students discussed how expensive new books are at the bookstore. This also led to the discussion of people within our school and community who may not have enough food to eat or struggle to feed their families. After these discussions, I decided to launch this PBL with our third grade students. When I introduced the PBL to our third graders they were so excited. That excitement has only increased since then. Not only did the students want to design a Little Lending Library, they also wanted a food pantry. So, they decided to combine the two!

The first step was to allow time for students to read more about the Little Lending Library project and how it started. Next, students were placed into small groups and given a copy of the Engineering Design Process used for the district STEM challenge. Students developed questions that would need to be answered. For example, What size will the library be? What materials will we use? Every student in the group then drew what they wanted the design to look like. When finished, the small groups discussed one another’s designs and decided to use one of them or to combine elements from each to create a new design. Students were required to label the design and to include measurements. Designs that met the requirements were then voted on by all Maryville students. The winning design will now be built by my husband. Students will now be writing book recommendations to go inside the lending library. They will also be brainstorming a list of traditional Thanksgiving foods that are non-perishable. Students will then design ads/catchy slogans to promote the Little Lending Library and Pantry. The final step of the process will be to hold a book and food drive to collect books and foods to be placed into the Little Lending Library and Pantry. Our goal is to unveil it the week of Thanksgiving.

The third graders and I have engaged in such rich conversations about what life would be without books or without other things we need. We have talked in great length about ways we might be able to help meet the needs of those within our community.

We have had such wonderful conversations about how our actions can affect others. We can start that ripple effect in which one small act of kindness can lead to another and how those actions can affect so many people. My job as a library media specialist goes beyond the walls of my library, beyond the walls of my school. Instilling a love of reading into students is very important to me. However, teaching them to care about others and serving their community is also important. I want our students to be actively involved with making our little community a better place.

Timeline for PBL:

October 11-15 Introduce PBL project

October 18-22 Engineering and Design Process, student voting on designs

November 1-5 Book recommendations and Thanksgiving food list

November 8-12 Design ads and promote PBL

Nov. 15-19 Food drive and book collection

November 22-23 Fill Little Lending Library and Pantry