This is a guest post from Doug Asquith, Media and Digital Learning Specialist at Dassel Elementary Media Center. Need a Mini Grant to purchase materials or try an interesting new program at your library? Apply today! 

I am honestly humbled and excited by this CMLE mini-grant getting accepted.  We at the Dassel Elementary Media Center have other Branches stories on our shelves, but this grant will allow us to expand and round out our collection to even genres and student interests at Dassel Elementary. 

These books fill a need for high-interest low-level books in our Media Center. Seeing students take the leap from leveled readers and picture books to books that look like, to quote a first-grader, “big kid books” brings a level of excitement to their faces as they begin to dive into the wonderful worlds created by these books. 

If the students enjoy what they have read, it is now easier to recommend students to either the next book in the series or other books in the same genre as the book they read.

Also because of the Branches mark teachers, particularly our SPED department, feel better about recommending these books to their students as the teacher has a better idea of the general reading level just by glancing at the cover of the book. 

The next step for us at Dassel Elementary is to keep an eye out as more books are released in each series. Again, thank you CMLE for this mini-grant and helping Dassel Elementary grow readers with Branches.