Christina De Silva, grade 3 teacher at St. Peter Catholic School, was selected for the second time to participate in the Turn the Page Event sponsored by the Jays Care Foundation, Rogers and TD Canada.
Hosted to acknowledge the continued dedication and commitment of Canadian educators, Turn the Page is an exciting, free book fair event designed to celebrate educators, increase access to new books and educational resources, and enhance the love of reading in youth, schools and communities.
“I am so grateful to the Blue Jays Foundation, Rogers, and TD and all of the sponsors that were able to provide this opportunity for teachers,” said De Silva.
Selected for the second consecutive year, De Silva, was invited to bring along two additional educators and choose 200 books and resources from a diverse selection of new and age-appropriate titles to fill classroom bookshelves and school libraries.
“A few weeks ago I got an email from the Blue Jays Foundation inviting me to the event, which is pretty exciting,” she shared. “And then I got to pick two awesome educators from my site to come along with me and we got to pick over 200 books which was great.”
“They are brand new books, it is amazing! I was shocked to see so many good titles, like Disney and Star Wars!”
Unsure of who nominated her, but extremely grateful for the opportunity to add these additional books and resources to her repertoire, De Silva was thrilled to see her students echo her enthusiasm.
“I just love that the kids will be able to interact with more books and they were just so excited when I brought them in today,” she said.
Beyond the classroom, the opportunity to add additional resources to three of the classrooms at St. Peter CS is a real win for the entire school.
“This is an amazing opportunity for our community, and I am very proud of Christina and grateful to her for bringing these resources to our kids,” shared Mary Beth McCuen, principal of St. Peter CS.
“I think as a teacher you’re just so grateful to have anything that the kids can interact with and see themselves in,” added De Silva.