Last year, Edgewood parent (and former PTA co-president) Sara Farnsworth had a novel idea: To organize a book swap at Edgewood School. Many of our kids read numerous books only to stack them on a shelf soon after to gather dust. “What if every parent donated a stack of books and other Edgewood kids could take them home?” Sara thought.

The first Edgewood Book Swap was a success, and inspired a new tradition at the school. This year’s second annual Book Swap, held in March, collected about 2,000 books, ensuring that every child who came to the event left with a book.

It was a feat to organize the massive selection of chapter and picture books into categories. Yoko Hayashi, the co-chair of the swap, worked tirelessly with library volunteers to categorize the titles. Once that job was complete, children were invited in to browse the selection with their classroom and buddy class.

“We had so many kids come in with their jaws dropped, saying, ‘These are free!?'” says Sara, who organized the swap with Yoko. “They were so excited.”

Every child could pick a few books, but the organizers were careful to make sure that first few classes of children didn’t clean out the entire selection of, say, Dog Man or Geronimo Stilton books. As the day wore on, children were encouraged to take additional books and since the swap was held on a half-day,  parents were invited after-school to select books as well. There was some worry, Sara says, that all of the books wouldn’t find a home, and they would need to find an organization to donate the rest.

In the end, all 2,000 books went.

And since so many of the books were stamped with an Edgewood Book Swap stamp, they expect they’ll see many of the same books cycle back through future swaps. Says Sara: “A book swap really shows kids that there’s value in sharing.”

With more than 50 countries represented in the student population of Edgewood, it’s no surprise that the school’s Multicultural Fair is a big hit every year. Parents who want to share about their family’s culture set up elaborate presentations to give the students a taste of what life is like in other countries of the world.

Each class at Edgewood attends the fair for half an hour, and the students are given “passports” that they can get stamped at each table.

This year, the activities offered at the stations were a huge hit. The kids got to play games, try on clothes and masks, do some arts and crafts, hold cultural artifacts, and play instruments. Here are some scenes from this year’s Multicultural Fair.