The nature path by McVay Elementary has been lined with illustrated pages of different children’s stories, an active storytime for those who travel the path.
First-grade teacher Olivia Bechtel launched the Rocky Book Walk — named after McVay’s racoon mascot — during the 2020-21 school year, when students attended classes by cohorts under the Blended Learning schedule. She sought to create an experience where students and families could access books outdoors in the midst of the pandemic.
What started as laminated pages of books posted on yard signs has evolved thanks to a Westerville Education Foundation grant Bechtel received last year that paid for glass displays for pages of children’s picture books mounted along the walking trail.
She has continued to build the Rocky Book Walk, adding a QR code that leads to a recording of Bechtel narrating the stories and launching a Twitter account (@RockyBookWalk) to raise awareness and share out the featured books.
“My hope is that it translates to other people and it becomes a family event, walking to go see it and talking about it,” she said.
The Rocky Book Walk is less than a mile from the Storybook Trail at Johnston-McVay Park hosted by the Westerville Parks and Recreation and Westerville Public Library. The trail also features pages of children’s books on mounted displays along a path surrounding the park. While the Storybook Trail features a new book every two months, Bechtel’s book walk shares a new story each week.
She has already mapped out the books she plans to display for the school year, showcasing a variety of informative and entertaining titles centered around themes, positive messages and timely issues. For instance, she kicked off the book walk this school year with “A Letter From Your Teacher: On the First Day of School” by Shannon Olsen. The story is told through a letter written from the teacher’s point of view and gives students the message that their new teacher is someone with whom they can form a special bond.
“I don’t do it for anything other than my love of books and reading and what I want to share with everybody else,” she said.
And Bechtel is already looking to build off the work she’s done with the book walk by creating activities that align with the story, partnering with the art teacher so students’ artwork could be displayed or spotlight a student of the month.
“It would be something that supports McVay and supports the community,” she said.