Lake Washington Schools Foundation (LWSF) awarded a $3,000 grant to Rose Hill Elementary to purchase additional books to supplement a school-wide book room. The grant was used to purchase almost 500 new books from Scholastic to enrich the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) reading programs that are currently in place.

The LWSF grant allows all Rose Hill Elementary teachers to easily provide additional reading resources to help students of varied reading abilities within their classrooms. A leveled book is assigned a number that is based on a student’s reading ability, not simply their age or their grade. This enables teachers to precisely target their reading instruction to the skill level of each student and to provide differentiated learning opportunities.

“We are honored that LWSF has awarded Rose Hill Elementary this grant. LWSD places a lot of emphasis on differentiating instruction for students within our classrooms, and this has helped Rose Hill Elementary accomplish that goal. Because students are challenged at their reading level they often feel more confident, and confident students are motivated students,” said Elizabeth Swanson, reading specialist (Safety Net) teacher at Rose Hill Elementary.

Founded in 2004, Lake Washington Schools Foundation is a group of community members from Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish who have raised more than $1.6 million from the community to help fund programs that positively impact the more than 25,000 students in the LWSD.

To learn more about the foundation, visit www.lwsf.org.