Abraham Lincoln Elementary is a part of the Sacramento City Unified School District, although technically it’s located in the city of Rancho Cordoba. The area where the school sits was originally part of Sacramento County, but when the new city was established, the school’s original educational association was retained.
While entering the room, you noticed on the right several buckets color-coordinated by rows hanging from the wall. The bookmarks were for students to place in a book that they do not complete in the allotted reading time. Those books are then placed on a special shelf so that when students return, they can pick right up where they left off on the last visit! There is something truly inspiring about seeing children in gaming chairs reading books and exercising their minds instead of playing electronic games, where the exercise is mostly in their hands!
On one wall, children are challenged to “Read Around the World,” while on an adjacent wall with seven clocks reflecting various times zones, kids can muse on Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.” Artwork on the walls each displayed a certain theme, which includes images of the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben in London and New York to name a few. Bookcases were painted solid red, or white, some affixed to the wall and some standing, but all completely packed with the 650+ books the were purchased.
A sturdy black sofa paired with two white molded chairs sat around a green rug, which suggests growth of the mind. Solid pink and lime green rectangular scatter rugs anchored seat groupings, adding dashes of bright color to the government-issue navy tweed carpet. A black curtain covered the floor-to-ceiling accordion room divider, a thoughtful canvas for imaginations to grow on. And the seating also included small Flintstone-esque chairs in green and white around a small table, as well as a dark red bench storage seat next to a coordinating bookcase. A globe rested on top of the most unique seating in the room– a cozy reading cubby! A 4 by 5-foot base kitchen cabinet was creatively converted into a rolling attraction! The typical holes were covered by black and white speckled wall paper, castors were added to the bottom and green pillows were made to fit inside made this the favorite seat in the house! And the largest plant in the room was fittingly a ficus benjamina, also known as a Benjamin tree!
Thank you to the Richard Lumsden Foundation for sponsoring this reading room.