BERNE — Nearly 10 years ago, two teachers had an idea, and that idea was in full swing Friday at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Elementary School.

The Books ’R’ Us program, offering students real-life encounters with the work world, was launched a decade ago by second-grade teacher Marlene Tiffany and former teacher and BKW School Board member Helen Lounsbury. Its premise, said Tiffany, is to promote a love of books and reading.

Friday, students, teachers, administrators, and parent volunteers celebrated 10 years of a successful enterprise.

The program allows students to work and shop at the basement bookstore, which is filled with new and used books.

Lounsbury retired from the district shortly before the program got its start and then served on the school board; she left her mark and continues to remain involved. She wrote the grant application for the program and made the store’s first purchase; the first dollar bill was framed to commemorate its beginning.

Upstairs, in Marlene Tiffany’s second-grade classroom, students, with paper teepee-shaped party hats atop their heads, held a brightly-colored caterpillar birthday cake and smiled widely as Tiffany took snapshots to commemorate the day.
"We love books," they cheered in unison.
"They love it"
"It’s our birthday," said John Francis Shahen, one of Tiffany’s second-grade students. "I’ve never worked in a store before," Shahen said. His favorite book, he said, is Arthur Babysits by Marc Brown.

Laura Simpson, another of Tiffany’s students, said her favorite book is Junie B. First Grader: Boo...and I Mean It by Barbara Park, one in a series of 32 Junie B. Jones books.
Shahen’s mother, Michelle, a parent volunteer, said of the program, "They love it."
"Who would have thought seven- and eight-year-olds could run a cash register"" she asked.

Tiffany’s second-graders rotate through the store’s three roles — new-book supervisor, used-book supervisor, and informational desk attendant. Classrooms visit the store throughout each month.
"It makes them feel special," said Shahen of children working at the store.
"We’re going to work at 12:15," Tiffany called out to her excited class.

Tiffany is baffled by the support and generosity of the community. Donations and books appear unexpectedly at the store, she said; money mysteriously shows up in the store’s cash register.

Books are flying off the shelves; empty slots are evidence of students’ interest in reading. Books are priced reasonably, selling for a quarter, a dollar, two dollars, or four dollars. If students don’t have money, they are given certificates to purchase books. They can also trade books they have read for new ones.

The money made from the store is used to buy new books, to keep the students up on their reading, said Michelle Shahan.

"Happy shopping"

Friday, two second-grade boys — Liam Hanley and Tyler Rapp — sat behind a cash register at the store, anticipating customers.

Third-graders would soon be arriving.

Surrounded by stacks of new and used books, Hanley and Rapp prepared for the students by taking turns practicing how to change a bill.

Mary Griggs-Longendyke, also a parent volunteer, helped Hanley and Rapp at the cash register.

Lisa Pede’s third-graders arrived and rigorously perused the stacks, looking for treasures. The third-graders felt at home, having worked at the book store last year. Pede is a former student teacher of Tiffany.
"Happy shopping," Tiffany said to her former students.

With a Harry Potter poster as a back-drop, students, with bills and quarters in hand, hovered over the stacks, and searched the store for books that interest them.

E.B. White’s classic, Charlotte’s Web, and Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, books long in print, sat beside up-and-coming and other established children’s book authors.

Ten years ago

Ten years ago, as the book store opened and students explored work by doing it, storefronts were sprouting up throughout BKW Elementary — a bank, post office, and theater among them.

Dreams Unlimited, a pilot program, was started in 1996 by Tiffany and Lounsbury.

Tiffany came up with the idea after hearing then-Superintendent Robert Drake speak about school-to-work at a conference. In 1993, BKW began a tech-prep program, following a nationwide trend that had been slow to take root in New York State. Tech prep combines occupational and academic learning in a hands-on approach designed to prepare students for high-skill technical occupations.
Dreams Unlimited, Tiffany and Lounsbury told the BKW School Board in 1996, offers students "real-life encounters with the world of work."

Students’ dreams ranged from being a sniper or dirt-bike racer or rich businessman to being a mother or a rock-and-roll star or the first woman president.

Students took field trips to a variety of work places and had speakers from different professions visit their classrooms to share their expertise.

In the spring of 1996, the Pioneering Partners Foundation informed Lounsbury her team had been awarded a grant of $5,000.
"Your technology initiative was unanimously endorsed by the Pioneering Partners Foundation board of directors as one of the strongest applications ever received in our five-year history!" wrote President Stephen G. Lakis.

The grant money, augmented by volunteer labor and donations from the community, was used to build the storefronts throughout the school.