Abbott Elementary has partnered with Scholastic to provide free book fairs at underfunded schools! đ
Additionally, ABC is relaunching its Traveling Teacherâs Lounge initiative, which provides teachers with books, classroom supplies, breakfast and âAbbott Elementaryâ merch. pic.twitter.com/kznuYvHUNu
— Off Colour (@OffColourOrg) March 10, 2022
People who watch Abbott Elementary are suffering withdrawal during the showâs winter hiatus. Fortunately, Twitter memes and articles like this one have been passed out to tide us over until the show returns. For anyone who doesnât know, showrunner and star, Quinta Brunsonâs created the show as a tribute to her mother, who taught elementary school, her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Joyce Abbott, and as a love letter to her hometown of Philadelphia. In addition to entertaining the viewer, Quinta hopes to help schools both through raising awareness and outreach. People were inspired to fill teacher wish lists after episode three, Wish List, aired. We heard that Quinta had part of the marketing budget diverted to getting supplies to classrooms, delivered via Abbott Elementary School buses called Traveling Teacherâs Lounges. Now Abbott, ABC and Scholastic are partnering again to provide free book fairs to underfunded schools across the country.
Attached to its hit freshman sitcom âAbbott Elementary,â ABC has partnered with Scholastic to become the first entertainment brand to provide underfunded schools with free book fairs.
The book fairs take place at seven Title 1 schools between March 14 and 18. Each student will receive two free books and each teacher will receive 10. Participating schools include Philadelphiaâs Harrity Elementary, which âAbbott Elementaryâ is based on, as well as Diehl Elementary in Erie, Pa., Bond Elementary in Chicago, Daytonâs Bluff Elementary in Minneapolis, Freeman Elementary in Flint, Mich. and Cortada Elementary and Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary in Los Angeles.
For anyone not familiar with a Scholastic Book Fair, theyâre like a book version of a Christmas market in your schoolâs library. Iâve never met a person who doesnât get excited when they see those words. Thereâs more than just books, not much, but a few bits and bobs. And they have books for all ages, including the parents. But even the most book-adverse child suddenly becomes Orpah Winfrey, grabbing everything with a binding. They usually have advance viewings, so the kids scout out what they want prior. By the time the sale hits, thereâs so much excitement, itâs pure joy for everyone. Knowing that This Little Show That Could is bringing that kind of happiness to schools and cities that might have to forego it due to underfunding just warms my heart on this Friday morning.
What doesnât bring me joy is the fact that the original three-week break we were supposed to endure from Abbott Elementary absence has been extended for no given reason. On Feb 22, they said weâd have to suck it up for three weeks. However, itâs been announced we wonât get a new episode until March 22nd. Thatâs four weeks â a full menstrual cycle. Ugh, fine. But ABC better announce a second season soon. And it better be a full 20 episode one too. I mean How I Met Your Father can already get greenlit for a second season, so can the most watched TV show.
Find a teacher to support through Donors Choose.
has it been 3 weeks yet? #AbbottElementary pic.twitter.com/zOR9tP0k6F
— RK Jackson | Atlanta đ¸ (@theerkj) March 9, 2022
Photo credit: Twitter and Instagram
This show and Brunson just keep getting better and better! â¤ď¸
Love everything about this story!
Thanks for some joy this Friday morning.
I don’t want to wait until the 22nd! I love this show and I love that they’re giving books to kids and supplies to teachers. Quinta Brunson is such an incredible talent, somebody give her a massive development deal
Thank you for this beautiful post. It brought a smile. Love, love the show.
I LOVE this show!! I am a now retired 3rd gr teacher, with some also now retired elem. teacher friends; so, we thought itâd be a fun watch together on Zoom. What we *didnât* expect was HOW MUCH we were relating to each one of the characters! Each one âhits homeâ for us at some point in our careers: the âWhat Movie Can I Throw On To Keep Them Quietâ sub (before the contracted job), the naive, enthusiastic ânewbieâ, who thought we could do it all with sunshine and unicorns đ , and over the years moved into the mentoring teacher, who could do âit allâ (except the most modern tech that they threw at us w/out real training: one in-service and you were supposed to be ready to roll⌠omg, I SO related to that episode! lol).
Funnily enough, we even had principals who werenât *that* far off from Ava, although her character is like 2 or 3 rolled into one.
We watch together every week, and then have a blast over some wine recounting our experiences just like it lol.
I could watch this show non-stop!
The school book fairs! I loved those when my kids were little. (They did too) We always bought one book to donate to each child’s classroom. Otherwise the teachers paid for them! And isn’t that ridiculous? In a middle class neighborhood with plenty of money, the PTA has to hold book fairs as fundraisers so the school’s library and classrooms can have enough books for the students! So it’s got to be 100x harder in underfunded schools.
I always bought a stack of books for my class at each book fair. Half would go into the class library for the class to enjoy, and the other half into a “Birthday Box”. Then, on each child’s birthday, they got to pick one new book out of the Birthday Box to keep.
I also bought a lot of the chatchkies (stickers, pencils, and erasers, posters, and bookmarks, things a lot of kids couldn’t buy for themselves) to give out as “treats” at various times (like when one students was really kind to another student, used really nice manners, helped others. when they weren’t asked to, etc). When the kids noticed someone got to go in The Box, *everyone* went on notice and started behaving well, so I always had a LOT of stuff in that box! lol
I love Quinta!
This show and Quinta keep getting more and more amazing. She is putting everyone else to shame – showing how you can be successful, talented, brilliant, and funny, AND thoughtful, considerate, giving, and intentional all at once. Wish more successful people followed her lead. I love this show, I love book fairs, and I love everything they’re doing. Cannot wait for the show to come back!
Love this show, love the cast! It’s so sweet that they are doing things for schools and teachers. This show is such a refuge from the madness in the world. It needs to come back ASAP.
I love this show so much, and it’s probably the only show where pretty much everyone I know watches and loves it. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they are using the show’s success to actually do good things out in the world. It’s so heartwarming.
I loved the Scholastic Book Fair. I was always the kid who would leave the library with more than I could carry, so I would always buy stuff at the book fair. Ours was with big rolling cases of books, set up on the stage, and when they’d open the curtains to let us in, it was so exciting.
I always lived out in the sticks, but a friend’s neighborhood would get the Bookmobile to come around, and that was always awesome too.
Thanks for the Donors Choose link too, that’s always a great way to help. There’s a filter to help find historically underfunded schools in whatever area you choose.
I have to watch this show, but as a former teacher I’m always loath to watch shows about schools. Been there, done that, burned out.
This is great!