All students enjoy being read to - even in the fifth grade. I begin every reading class with a read-aloud that teaches a literacy skill, such as making connections or inferences, and engages ALL of my students in meaningful conversations. In addition, I use many of these books to build background knowledge (such as WWII content) before reading novels in guided reading groups. This is the only time when the whole class can share literature together due to different abilities. I teach fifth grade in a high-poverty school in the state of Maine. My students represent a wide range of abilities, but they all enjoy this shared reading time.
Due to the wide range of abilities my students have, I try to teach literacy skills through mentor texts that are engaging and understandable to all of my students; especially picture books, poetry and nonfiction articles. The issue is, with budget cuts, I have very little money to collect enough mentor texts to teach the literacy skills that will make my students capable and well-rounded readers. I have purchased many on my own over the years, but my collection still has many gaps.
I need 13 more mentor texts to help stock my collection and a resource book that would help me create more lessons that use mentor texts to teach literacy skills. These resources would be used with two homeroom groups (I teach reading to two groups) and would be used year after year as read-alouds, in addition to being placed in our classroom library for further enjoyment.
Please consider making a donation so that my students can continue to enjoy interesting and thought-provoking books while learning essential skills that will enable them to become independent and life-long readers. With extremely tight budgets in our district, I do not see when it will be possible to make these purchases on my own.
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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 Mrs. Taylor and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.