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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Thiel from Portland, OR is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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Fully Funded

Ms. Thiel's classroom raised $484

Using Passion to Build Reading Skills

My students need the Life As We Knew It Series: 32 books total, plus the spoken version so that struggling readers can fully participate.

Classroom photo
Ms. Thiel Scott Elementary School
Portland, OR Grades 6-8

My Students

My favorite thing about teaching 7th grade is watching the transformation as children discover their adult minds. My students are passionate thinkers, but many are struggling readers. My challenge as a teacher is to use their passion to fuel their growth in reading.

My students are some of the most amazing people I have ever met.

Most of them live in poverty, and many are learning English as a second language. Some of them switch homes more often than they celebrate birthdays. Despite their challenges, they come to school with an earnest eagerness to learn. As young adolescents, they are fascinated with the big issues that their developing minds are beginning to grapple with: justice, the environment, and complex conflicts. They love to talk about these issues, but many find reading frustrating and inaccessible. The right book can bridge this gap, building reading fluency while the student devours an addicting story. Once a student finds such a book, they keep looking for more. This is how struggling readers become avid readers.

My Project

Recently, I have found a series of books that I am confident will tap into my students' passion. The Life As We Knew It series depicts people in America after a natural disaster forever changes life on Earth. Through the eyes of a young teenager, the reader is taken through the transformation from "normal life" to a reality that is both believable and shocking. I am always on the prowl for engaging books for my students, and this series in uncommonly captivating. I will use these books for literature groups in my classroom. Students will read with a group, forming their own discussion questions, and supporting each other with vocabulary, background knowledge, and connections. Struggling readers will have the option of listening to the audio version as they read, which gives them access to the content of the book, while building reading fluency. After finishing the first book, students who want to keep going will continue with the series.

I have no doubt that my students will be as captured by these books as I was, and will find themselves stealing time to read a few more pages whenever possible.

I can't wait for the conversations to start: in the classroom, over lunch tables, on the school bus. I can't wait to witness as "struggling readers" devour all three books in a few weeks. This series has the potential to transform student: nourishing their hunger for intense issues, while creating confident, fluent, avid readers.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More than half of students from low‑income households

50 students impacted 2 donors
Ms. Thiel Scott Elementary School Grades 6-8

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Portland, OR View local requests

More than half of 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

50 students impacted 2donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Life As We Knew It (Life As We Knew It Series #1) Susan Beth Pfeffer • Barnes and Noble $11.62 16 $185.92
Life As We Knew It (Life As We Knew It Series #1) Emily Bauer, Narrated by Emily Bauer, Read by Emily Bauer • Barnes and Noble $36.54 1 $36.54
This World We Live In (Life As We Knew It Series #3) Susan Beth Pfeffer • Barnes and Noble $11.62 8 $92.96
The Dead and the Gone (Life As We Knew It #2) Susan Beth Pfeffer • Barnes and Noble $6.83 8 $54.64

Materials cost

$370.06

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$5.55

Fulfillment labor & materials

$35.00

Total project cost

$410.61

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$72.46

Total project goal

$483.07

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $483.07

1 Donor

-$95.00

Donations toward project cost

-$80.75

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$14.25

match offer

-$388.07

Match offer toward project cost

-$329.86

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$58.21

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

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

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Project Activity

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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. Thiel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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