Amy Bailey, a 1st-grade teacher at Wilcox County P-12 Schools (GA) has been named the Open Up Resources Bookworms K–5 Reading & Writing of the Month for October. Bailey is being recognized for her outstanding work in her own classroom and for supporting teachers across the country as a member of the Open Up Resources National Professional Learning Community.

Bailey’s work with Open Up Resources Bookworms K–5 Reading & Writing makes her one of the most innovative teachers in the country. The Open Up Resources Bookworms K–5 Reading & Writing is built upon abundant literacy research and is designed to make excellent instruction and differentiation easier. 

Teachers from across the country have benefitted from Bailey’s knowledge of the curriculum in the Open Up Resources Professional Learning Community. She has been a wealth of knowledge to others—answering questions, sharing positive stories from her classroom, and offering expert teacher to teacher advice when needed.

Bailey shares that she loves the opportunity to read more with her students, “I just really want my students to have a love of reading.” She has also seen a huge difference in her students from Kindergarten to 1st-Grade due to the amount of whole-text reading in the curriculum. “Their background knowledge is so much better since being exposed to the curriculum. I no longer feel so stressed at the beginning of the year,” she shares.

The advice she would give to a teacher new to Open Up Resources Bookworms K–5 Reading & Writing is to breathe and take it one day at a time. She explains, “The curriculum is full of important lessons and information, there is a lot to accomplish before your kids move on to the next day, but you’ve got this!”

Open Up Resources is a non-profit on a mission to increase equity in education by making excellent, top-rated curricula freely available to districts. You can learn more at www.openupresources.org. Learn more about our National Professional Learning Communities here.