Do you remember sitting in high school classes and wishing you could be anywhere else in the world? I completely understand that feeling, which is why I strive to have my students make connections between what they learn in the classroom and the world outside of that classroom.
I am the only English teacher at a high school that is geared toward at-risk students, including the special education students that make up almost half of our student population. My school focuses on the students forming connections to the surrounding community in order to show them that they can make a difference and that they matter!
The students' favorite of my classes is my children's literature class because it allows the students to read to children at a local preschool. The students who have taken this class in the past absolutely LOVE having this opportunity.
Because our school is small, we are able to do activities like this, but have limited resources with which to work. In the past, I have made do by buying books myself or having the students borrow books from the local library, but it if the students had a library of children's books to choose from in the school, they would get to spend more time reading to the preschoolers and forming bonds with them. They would not have to worry about what they are going to read and could instead concentrate on the act of reading itself.
The library of children's books will be able to be used by students at the school for years. These books will begin our collection, which I hope to expand every year so that the students have a wide variety of books to share with the preschoolers. The students and the preschoolers all look forward to the time they spend together and are sad whenever they have to leave each other. These children's books would give them even more time together!!!
You will give my students to opportunity form bonds with the children they read to as well as gain confidence in themselves and their abilities! My students desperately need to know that they matter, and by spending time with the preschoolers they know that they are doing something positive for their community! Please, please, please help provide my students with the books they need for this class and all of the experiences that come with it!!!
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