Two updates this morning from West Seattle schools:

GATEWOOD IN THE WOODS: Gatewood Elementary principal Rhonda Claytor shares that photo, from before the weather turned cloudy – she says her school “is hosting its first 4th /5th Grade Fall Leadership Camp today at Lincoln Park. In the attached picture, the students are participating in a writing celebration, sharing their first piece of writing this fall with their classmates.”

MADISON READING PROGRAM NEEDS YOU! Not volunteer help – but rather, donations! Stacia the librarian explains:

Greetings, West Seattle community members! My name is Stacia Bell and I am the new librarian at Madison Middle School. I want to let you know about a great new reading program at Madison and how you can help. This year, we are starting up the Bulldogs Read program (modeled after Whitman Middle School’s successful Wildcats Read program), an incentive reading program with the goal being to get more and more kids reading for pleasure. The Bulldogs Read program is made up of 50 new books that students are challenged to read each year that are chosen because they are new publications, they are a diverse mix of books, and they were all nominated for some sort of literary award. Our hope is that each student and staff member at Madison will read at least one of the Bulldogs Read books and will, in the process, increase their love of reading and, in turn, their reading skills.

**Here is how you can help:

Each time a student completes a Bulldogs Read book, they are entered into a drawing for weekly small prizes and monthly grand prizes. I am looking for local businesses or donors who would like to partner with Madison by donating items for our weekly and monthly prize drawings. It could be gift certificates or actual prize items from your store/business. No donation is too small…or too large! You and/or your business would receive publicity on our school web site, you’d be featured on our photo wall of monthly winners, and you’d receive great thank you notes from our monthly winners. If you are a business owner and would be interested in finding out more about how you can support this reading program (or know a business owner that might be interested in donating something), please read the attached letter that explains the program in more detail. Please call (206.252.9152) or e-mail me, Stacia Bell (smbell@seattleschools.org), to discuss your possible donation. Thank you so much for considering partnering with Madison in this special program.

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