Rippin' for reading

HORN LAKE You could call it an Extreme Library Makeover.

Built as a middle school for use by students in grades 6-8, Horn Lake Intermediate School, 6585 Horn Lake Road, now holds students in grades 3-5 and librarian Allison Mauney felt her work area needed to be a little more kid-friendly for reading and learning.

Her efforts to enhance the library space have received a boost from a $5,000 Lowes Toolbox for Education Grant that will help fund the installation of new carpet in the library.

Workers this week started to rip out the old library carpet in preparation for the new carpet to be installed.

Mauney learned of the Lowes grant last year and applied for it in February. She was told in May the money was coming her way for the project.

The grant will pay for the cost of the carpet. We used other funds to pay for the installation and the other work we are having done here, Mauney said. This will get us off in the right direction. We are hoping within a year to have everything the way we want it to have done.

The way Mauney wants it done is to have areas where the youngsters can do their reading on the new carpet or in beanbag chairs, close to the floor and away from the tables; thus making reading more enjoyable for the kids.

When we put it all back together again, were going to be able to rearrange our furniture and adjust and build in reading nooks and places for kids to be able to get down to the floor and enjoy their reading more in this setting, Mauney said.

Horn Lake Intermediate School becomes one of more than 600 schools in the country to earn the grant for school improvements from the home improvement company. Each year, Lowes provides grants of up to $100,000 for a wide range of projects at K-12 schools across the country.

The library project will continue to be a work in progress during the school year, but principal Tammie Skelton believes her students will be hard pressed not to look forward to coming to the library this fall.

Go here to see the original:
Rippin' for reading