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This teacher needs your help!

Mrs. Sommer from Collinsville, IL is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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Fully Funded

Mrs. Sommer's classroom raised $707

What's That Word? We Need Dictionaries!

My students need 30 dictionaries to use in the classroom to help them develop their vocabulary and improve their writing.

Classroom photo
Mrs. Sommer Dorris Intermediate School
Collinsville, IL Grades 3-5

My Students

Isn't it frustrating when you are reading and come across a word you don't know? Imagine if you didn't have the proper reference book to help you determine the meaning of the word! My students would be elated to have their own set of dictionaries in the classroom!

My 5th grade students are energetic and eager to learn.

They are an extremely diverse group of kids, including many low-income and English language learners. This year is a new experience for all of them because they are attending an intermediate school with over 1,000 students. They are all coming from smaller, local elementary schools with anywhere from 100-300 students. They are adjusting well and taking full advantage of all of the opportunities offered at their new school. Many have already joined band, chorus, basketball, and a Character Council group. Our classroom is very "tech savvy" and we have already learned how to blog, post to our website, and use our classroom interactive whiteboard. I look forward to teaching them and learning from them this year.

My Project

What is a classroom without a set of up-to-date dictionaries? My students will use these dictionaries on a daily basis to look up new words, practice weekly vocabulary words, add to our word wall words, and improve our writing skills by learning parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms. Because our class has several English language learners, dictionaries will be an essential component to their success this year. Many of the students will need the dictionaries as a daily resource to help them learn our language. The dictionaries I selected are elementary dictionaries which also contain picture clues which will be visually stimulating for these students in need.

This activity is really important to the success of our classroom.

Fifth grade provides many opportunities for vocabulary building with weekly reading vocabulary words as well as key terms in both science and social studies. In addition, many of my students are reading young adult chapter books and would greatly benefit from a classroom set of dictionaries to help them look up words anytime they need to. As you can see, this project will benefit all of my students.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Nearly all students from low‑income households

30 students impacted 21 donors
Mrs. Sommer Dorris Intermediate School Grades 3-5

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Collinsville, IL 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

30 students impacted 21donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary - Hardcover (New!) • Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. $17.95 30 $538.50

Materials cost

$538.50

Vendor shipping charges

 $18.85

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$8.08

Fulfillment labor & materials

$35.00

Total project cost

$600.43

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$105.96

Total project goal

$706.39

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $706.39

17 Donors

-$330.00

Donations toward project cost

-$280.50

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$49.50

match offer

-$376.39

Match offer toward project cost

-$319.93

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$56.46

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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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. Sommer and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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