TUCSON, AZ — “The Phoenix Suns have inspired this beautiful moment in my classroom every day,” said Amber Sibley.
The Second-grade teacher, admitted book nerd, and die-hard Suns fan Amber Sibley says it all started with a thoughtful gift from her husband.
“For Valentine's Day he surprises me with this book club sweatshirt because he knows I’m a huge Devin Booker fan,” said Sibley.
The gift instantly inspired the educator at Legacy Traditional in Tucson to incorporate it into the classroom. Starting the “Book Club” in hopes of encouraging a love for reading in her students. Calling teaching an art form.
“My lesson plans are a palette and I begin this creative journey to get my students to fall in love with learning,” said Sibley.
In this case, it starts with an hour of silent reading as Devin Booker's face is projected on the wall. Afterward, the kids get into their Book Club teams, with team names of course, ready to share their favorite parts.
“Their books are open and they’re pointing to things in their books and the kids are all excited and they want to see,” said Sibley. “They’re also learning skills like taking turns, they all talk in the book club, it’s not one student doing all the talking, they’re also developing their listening skills. It’s wonderful to see.”
Communication, friendship, focus, and a hunger to improve, the same traits providing so much success for the hometown team, now doing the same for Mrs. Sibley’s second-grade class.
“I even had a little girl say book club’s my favorite part of the day, and I thought oh my goodness, this was all from a sweatshirt,” said Sibley with a chuckle.