Stonington — It began with a book. You know. A book. A printed work of fiction and nonfiction on sheets of paper bound together within a cover. Those things nobody has time to read anymore.

Happily, a bunch of second graders at Deans Mill School spent some time reading "Rag Coat," a children's book about a community uniting for a family in need. And what followed was an inspiring use of practical education, a basketball game, an enduring lesson and the unexplainable joy that giving imparts.

And so they gathered in the gym one day last week, the whole school there to watch the teachers play basketball, in honor of Brittany Sutera's second graders, whose project stemming from the book they read turned into more than 1,100 canned goods and other food items donated to the Gemma Moran/United Way Labor Food Bank.

What Sutera didn't know is that her dad, David, a founding father of the Cactus Jack Organization, also donated a $750 check to the Food Bank, causing Ms. Sutera to have a Hallmark Moment right there in the full gym.

"We decided after reading Rag Coat that we wanted to do something for the community of Stonington, since we're also learning about being good citizens in our social studies curriculum," Brittany Sutera said. "So the kids decided they wanted to run a canned food drive and as an incentive if each class can raise 25 or more canned goods, the teachers have offered to play in a basketball game where the students can come and watch."

The kids wrote letters to the Food Bank, made videos and sent fliers home. They sent boxes to each class to fill. The goal was 25 cans per box. The result was in excess of 1,100 total.

The reward was a basketball game. The teachers are good sports over there on 35 Deans Mill Rd., huffing and puffing their way up and down the floor. It was the first basketball game that ever threatened to be a scoreless tie. But the kids loved it.

After the game, the kids gathered in Sutera's classroom to talk about the project. There's just nothing more fitting for the spirit of the season.

"We learned how to be good citizens," one second-grader said.

"How important it is to help people," another said.

"And that old people should never play basketball," said another.

Right on all counts.

There was just something so right about the whole day. Maybe it's just the way the public views education now, how our kids become robots preparing for some standardized test so some out-of-touch suits somewhere decide how much money the school system should receive.

What just happened at Deans Mill School isn't going to show up on some test. It's only going to shape the minds of second graders to become more aware of the community, helping people and understanding on their level that life is about a deeper sense of obligation to things that are greater than our own self-interest.

It's called applying our school experiences to real life. And to try to make the world a better place. In this case, one can of cannellini beans at a time.

The game, too, was about sports at their roots: Being a good sport and having some fun. Sometimes, the sports section gets a little too grim. It took some teachers to travel, double dribble and throw fastballs at the poor rims to reconnect us with why Howard Cosell liked to call the games we play "the toy department."

Sutera and her class turned the spotlight on Deans Mill School last week. It revealed a happy place, where the teachers and kids get it. No standardized test can measure that or take away the good will that pulsated throughout the building.

This is no cute little story. This is the foundation of the educational process.

Open a book.

Learn from it.

Take action.

Help others.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro