Jays@School is an online application that uses the sport of baseball and the Blue Jays as a basis for students to learn. The program uses baseball as a tool for learning and incorporates specific baseball elements in core subjects such as math, language and physical education. Over 2000 educators have registered for the Jays@School program, reaching over 54,000 students across Ontario at a grassroots level. The Jays@School program is available at no cost to educators and encompasses key elements such as:

• School Visits: Each May, Blue Jays players and coaches visit local elementary schools to relay positive messages to students based on education, healthy lifestyles and anti-bullying.
  
  
• Student Curriculum: Educators are able to download worksheets and lesson plans to aid in teaching subjects such as, Language, Math and Physical Education. The program is geared towards grades 4, 5 & 6 and is continually updated to reflect any changes in education.
  
  
• Blue Jays Book Club: Blue Jays Book Club encourages children to read a minimum of ten grade specific fiction books. Children who read the required amount of books are rewarded with a Blue Jays baseball cap. The grand prize winner gets the opportunity to attend batting practice and a Jays game at Rogers Centre.
  
  

First Book is an international nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. The primary goal of First Book is to work with existing literacy programs to distribute new books to children who, for economic reasons, have little or no access to books. First Book provides age-appropriate books to children in literacy programs, shelters for battered children, housing project initiatives, soup kitchens, after-school programs and other community-based efforts reaching children living at or below the poverty line. First Book has provided more than 55 million new books to children in need in thousands of communities since 1992.
 
First book launched this program in Canada with a media conference on May 6 at Toronto Reference Library and asked the Blue Jays to participate. To celebrate the Blue Jays participation First Book has generously donated 10,000 new books to the Jays@School program.
 
Blue Jays attendees included Paul Godfrey, John and Maura McDonald and ACE.
 
For more information visit jaysatschool.com »