Seneca school project funded by the Gates Foundation

A teacher at Seneca’s Blue Ridge Elementary School decided to do something to remedy a situation in which some pre-kindergarten students came from homes without any books.  To help develop literacy skills in them, Jessica McGaha (left) started a project to buy books, provide a bookshelf and work with parents on simple reading lessons. McGaha calls the project “Raising Readers” and then listed it on a popular education fundraising site. Her project was entered in a contest sponsored by the Gates Foundation that identified innovative early literacy ideas.  She was recently notified that Raising Readers was selected as one of three projects nationwide to be awarded $10,000. McGaha and Lisa Simmons, school principal, started planning the project and buying supplies.