ROCK ISLAND, Illinois -- A teacher was able to round up free books for her students for an entire school year, just by asking friends on social media.
Shaya Smith, a fourth grade teacher at the Rock Island Center for Math and Science, took to Facebook with a goal. She asked for people to sponsor her students, getting them access to a program through Scholastic that offers $1 books.
Sponsoring one student costs $9. With that $9, a student will get a free book to take home each month, September through May.
"Within five minutes, I had an offer to pay for the full amount for my class for the year," said Smith. A $225 investment.
However, Smith said the pledges didn't stop there.
"It just kept snowballing and it was one after another," she said.
When Smith told the class about the upcoming books, they were ecstatic. The class cheered and stood to do their happy dance; the trendy "flossing" dance.
"I can't believe me and my friends are gonna get books that we can take home for free and we don't have to buy them," said a student.
With the extra donations, Smith said she plans to spread it around the school, helping other teachers get books for their students.
