My students need books in Spanish to encourage them to read in their native language, to improve their literacy skills, and to increase their academic vocabulary.
I have a new class Spanish Language Arts designed for heritage speakers and students coming from our dual language immersion program at the middle schools. I want my kids to be able to read for pleasure in Spanish and need books to start a library.
"Seamos realistas y hagamos lo imposible" - Che
My students come from very diverse backgrounds in an urban environment.
Many of them are "dreamers" brought here as children by their parents who came seeking work. 55% percent of our students are non-white, evenly divided between Latino, African-American and Asian, with many children coming from first generation immigrant families. For some students, school is the only place they get a break from part time jobs, caring for younger siblings and cousins or helping hold down a household while parents work second shift jobs. While improving, Spanish language resources are still not abundant in our small city of 300K people.
Many of my students are in the AVID program, and have been identified as the first in their family to be able to consider college. They require extra hours of academic support and college counseling to help them prepare for applying and attending college. Most of my students qualify for free/reduced lunch based on household incomes.
My Project
The materials you help me to provide will begin a small library of books for pleasure reading in Spanish. This is a new course this year Spanish Language Arts, designed to help students become fluid readers and writers in their heritage language. We will be using primarily non-fiction readings in class for assignments and discussion, but my students need access to interesting engaging books in Spanish to encourage them to read outside of class. The best way to improve vocabulary and build literacy skills is through reading, but many of my students do not live in close proximity to a library and even when they do, materials in Spanish are still very limited. It is my hope that students will learn to read for pleasure, and to come into contact with Latino writers, in addition to a few popular translations. Most of the books selected are by Hispanic writers, because I want my students to have positive role models from their own culture.
This project makes reading for pleasure in Spanish a possibility.
For some kids, who work after school or watch siblings, it may be the only access they have to borrowing a book to read for fun in Spanish. For students who come from our Dual Language schools, but speak English at home, it may be their only source of books in Spanish. Your support will help create global bi-lingual and bi-literate citizens.
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. Davis and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.