You're on track to get doubled donations (and unlock a reward for the colleague who referred you). Keep up the great work!
Take credit for your charitable giving! Check out your tax receipts
Donate
To use your $50 gift card credits, find a project to fund and we'll automatically apply your credits at checkout. Find a classroom project
Skip to main content

Help teachers & students in your hometown this season!
Use code HOME at checkout and your donation will be matched up to $100.

Your school email address was successfully verified.

This teacher needs your help!

Ms. S. from Valdese, NC is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. S. is requesting

Reading Road Trip- We Need Gas!!

Our K/2 teachers are in need of leveled reading texts and enriching language arts materials such as Sight Word Readers and Word Detective Sliders.

  • $588 goal

This project expired on September 9, 2008.

This project expired on September 9, 2008.

Classroom photo
Ms. S. Valdese Elementary School
Valdese, NC Grades PreK-2

At our elementary schoolwe strive for excellence, but just as excellence is associated with great teachers, it also comes with a price tag. Our K-2 teachers are among the best in the state but we often imagine what we could do if we actually had funds to help us excel beyond our limits. In my kindergarten classroom, we serve both developmentally delayed students, ESL and typically developing children. Imagine teaching a child who cannot speak English and at the same time teaching a child who reads on a second grade level. This is my class and my daily struggle and I simply do not have the materials to meet this varying level of needs. Escalating curriculum standards are changing education in America, especially in kindergarten. In kindergarten, the curriculum has become much more than learning the ABC’s. Today, kindergarten students are expected to become beginning readers by the end of the school year. This goal helps to ensure that all students are reading on grade level by the end of second grade, which is mandated by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Kindergarten teachers lay the foundation for reading success that will aid them in all areas of their young and adult lives. The process of reading can be considered a “road trip.” Learning to read is a continual process or a journey with many stops along the way. The very first stop is letter recognition. Other stops include phonological awareness, phonics, and vocabulary. Each stop leads to the next as the final destination nears. Our goal, for all students, is to reach that final destination of reading fluency and comprehension. The reading road trip is intense and fast paced. However, we share a vision to improve the quality of the journey through the use of guided reading groups. Guided reading groups allow one to reach the individual needs of all students and provide them with the proper skills or “map key”, to arrive at each destination on their personal road trip. To aid the students in reaching their final destinations, one must provide them with sufficient practice at each stop. Without the proper reading materials, this proves to be an extremely difficult task. Each semester at our supportive Parent-Teacher Organization gives each teacher $75.00 to spend on classroom supplies. Even with this financial support, teachers do not have sufficient funds to buy the necessary reading texts for their classrooms. In each classroom, students are divided into three or four guided reading groups. In each guided reading group, there are four to six students. Each group of students is at a significantly different reading level and requires its own set of texts. Therefore, on a daily basis, teachers need a total of 19 texts on varying reading levels. This is a total of 3,420 books that represent a wide range of readability levels annually. Without sufficient funds and the sharing of materials, it is impossible to provide the most appropriate texts for each child on a daily basis. To ensure that students become successful readers and arrive at the final destination on the reading road trip, our goal is to construct a future kindergarten, first and second grade bookroom. The bookroom will be the “gas” that the students will need in order to propel them forward in their journey. It will include different types of text to use at each stop on the reading road trip as well as early literacy materials so children can practice skills they are learning. The bookroom will house predictable texts, sight word texts; decodable/phonics based texts, as well as transitional text. Each type of text will also be organized into levels. Teachers in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, will help operate the” full service” bookroom. Each teacher will check out leveled book sets and use them in their guided reading groups on a daily basis. The wide range of texts and book levels will guarantee that each student will read texts pertinent to their stop on the reading road trip. Ultimately, that all students will have a plethora of texts to read at every stop on the road trip until they achieve success and by arriving at their final destination. With these leveled texts, one’s bags are packed and their journey can begin. Can you help our journey begin? Today’s children require more to become successful 21st century learners. It costs money to make this possible. Teachers and PTO give monetary support but it not enough to make it on this road trip. Funds are cut more than ever and we are running out of “gas”. As a teacher, I wonder if we will ever make it on this journey without the materials we need to enhance our teaching. We need your help to help us pick up the momentum to make it to the final destination of reading success. Please grant us the chance to win this race, and to become life long readers and productive citizens of this nation. Additionally: You may request to view our Reading Road Trip Video Created by our 2007- 2008 Kindergarten Students at Rutherford College Elementary

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Nearly all students from low‑income households

Never Before Funded 112 students impacted
Ms. S. Valdese Elementary School Grades PreK-2

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Valdese, NC View local requests

Nearly all students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

Never Before Funded 112 students impacted

Boost your odds

Add a profile photo in addition to your classroom photo. If you add a photo, it'll show up right here on your project page.

You are more likely to receive funding if you put a face to your name.

Upload a photo

Top rated for efficiency and transparency.

You donate directly to the teacher or project you care about and see where every dollar you give goes.

Expand the "Where your donation goes" section below to see exactly what Ms. S. is requesting.

See our finances

TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

You can start a project with the same resources being requested here!

Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
TT908 - Word Detective Sliders • Lakeshore Learning $19.95 1 $19.95
RR688 - Rhyming Sounds Rubber Stamp Set • Lakeshore Learning $29.95 1 $29.95
JJ117 - Alphabet Sorting Kit • Lakeshore Learning $29.95 1 $29.95
EE186 - Beginning Blends & Digraphs Instant Learning Center • Lakeshore Learning $19.95 1 $19.95
EE188 - Simple Sentences Instant Learning Center • Lakeshore Learning $19.95 1 $19.95
EE183 - Sound Switch Instant Learning Center • Lakeshore Learning $19.95 1 $19.95
TT827 - Building Words Instant Learning Center • Lakeshore Learning $19.95 1 $19.95
TT318 - Phonics Read-Along Literacy Packs - Complete Set • Lakeshore Learning $149.00 1 $149.00
TT536 - Lakeshore Sight-Word Readers - Level 2 • Lakeshore Learning $44.95 1 $44.95
TT235 - Lakeshore Sight-Word Readers - Level 1 • Lakeshore Learning $44.95 1 $44.95

Materials cost

$398.55

Vendor shipping charges

 $39.86

Sales tax

 $16.94

3rd party payment processing fee

$9.96

Fulfillment labor & materials

$17.00

Total project cost

$482.00

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$105.80

Total project goal

$587.80

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

View complete list Show less

Project Activity

Project Activity
Back to top

DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. S. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

See how DonorsChoose works
{"pmaHash":"","showProjectRecommendations":true,"leadGenEnabled":false,"hideTeacherDetails":false,"schoolState":"NC","teacherPossessivePronoun":"her","PMsManager":null,"schoolGradeType":{"id":1,"name":"Early Education"},"TeacherPMForms":{},"completingDonationAmount":588,"teacherHasClassroomPhoto":true,"proposalURL":"https://www.donorschoose.org/project/-/147966/","mayHaveReplacements":false,"numStudents":112,"isEquityFocusV1":false,"teacherScreenName":"Ms. S.","isEquityFocus":true,"proposalHash":"-1927412180","isApplePayMobileOnly":true,"progressBarPercentage":0.00,"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":true,"photosPublished":false,"queryString":"","DonorPMForm":null,"shouldTrackEquityFocusV2":true,"schoolCity":"Valdese","teachersOnPage":[181772],"isTeacherViewingTheirOwnProject":false,"minimizedLeadGenEnabled":false,"proposalId":147966,"proposalMessageFormModel":null,"numActiveProjects":0,"verifyShowPhotos":"","eligibleToBeCopied":false,"schoolId":1314,"schoolName":"Valdese Elementary School","authorIds":{"181772":{"owner":"Ms. S.","donationSalutations":{}}},"displayedPercentFunded":0.0,"proposalsOnPage":[147966],"pmaId":"","teacherProfilePhotoURL":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-7_272.png?auto=webp","teacherHasProfilePhoto":false,"currentWorkflowStatusCode":6,"teacherChallengeId":164280,"isApplePayEnabled":true,"fundedByTarget":false,"activeProject":null,"donorIdsForImpactPhotoCheck":[],"teacherId":181772,"schoolCounty":"Burke","fullyFunded":false,"isStudentLed":false,"isExpired":true,"schoolStateObj":{"code":"NC","name":"North Carolina"}}