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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Ortbahn from Charlotte, NC is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Ms. Ortbahn is requesting
Fully Funded

Ms. Ortbahn's classroom raised $1,064

Campaign Against Readicide: High Interest Books for Scholars

My students need a classroom library of high-interest novels to cultivate a life-long love of reading.

Classroom photo
Ms. Ortbahn Martin L King Junior Middle School
Charlotte, NC Grades 6-8

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

Do your part to save another class of students from falling subject to "€œreadicide," the systematic squelching of the love of reading in students, especially students in low-income schools.

One of the greatest challenges my students face is the incredible pressure of No Child Left Behind placed on low-performing schools that creates incredible resistance to reading in the students who need to be reading the most.

This resistance is born from the "readicide" that is occurring in classrooms across our city in school with the highest need. In order to pass a standardized test, students are given skill-and-drill classes day in and day out, and before entering my classroom, the majority of them closed the year never even reading a novel in their English class.

My Project

The Alliance for Excellent Education points to over 8.5 million, €Â"roughly 1 in 4 secondary students who are able to read and comprehend that material in their own textbooks, leaving 3 in 4 students grade levels behind. Of the nearly 24 million students who struggle to read their textbooks, nearly 3,000 struggling readers will drop out of school every single day. This will not be the story of my students. As a lover of language and a firm believer in the power of literacy as the most powerful equalizer in our democracy, I cannot allow this to happen to the students I love and am accountable to. The only antidote to "€œreadicide" is to have students reading, and reading regularly, books that interest them and that they choose.

When speaking to the University of Michigan's School of Education, Arne Duncan observed, "Today, you might be able to sit at the front of the bus, but if you can't read, you're not free." This brings me to the community of support at Donors Choose.

I am working to build a library to get my students reading something they enjoy every single day. My students will leave my classroom with a love of reading sparked and rooted within them. Your help in building a classroom library is the first step.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households

70 students impacted 21 donors
Ms. Ortbahn Martin L King Junior Middle School Grades 6-8

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Charlotte, NC View local requests

More than three‑quarters 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

70 students impacted 21donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Snitch • AKJ Books $5.91 1 $5.91
Full Bluford Series (15 Books) • AKJ Books $19.50 1 $19.50
Dreamland Sarah Dessen, D. Brodie (Editor) • AKJ Books $13.31 1 $13.31
The Pact: A Love Story Jodi Picoult • AKJ Books $5.91 1 $5.91
Dark Angel • AKJ Books $12.58 1 $12.58
The First Part Last Angela Johnson • AKJ Books $12.57 1 $12.57
I Am the Messenger • AKJ Books $8.13 1 $8.13
My Sister''s Keeper • AKJ Books $11.84 1 $11.84
Nineteen Minutes • AKJ Books $11.84 1 $11.84
A Step from Heaven • AKJ Books $15.26 1 $15.26
Rooftop • AKJ Books $5.17 1 $5.17
The Perfect Shot • AKJ Books $7.36 1 $7.36
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie • AKJ Books $5.91 1 $5.91
The Truth About Forever • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
Thirteen Reasons Why (HC) • AKJ Books $13.31 1 $13.31
Street Pharm • AKJ Books $5.91 1 $5.91
Just Listen • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
Someone Like You (reissue) • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
That Summer • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
This Lullaby • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature Robin Brande • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
Lemonade Mouth • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
Invisible • AKJ Books $5.91 1 $5.91
It''s Kind of a Funny Story Ned Vizzini, Tk • AKJ Books $7.39 1 $7.39
Someday this Pain will be useful • AKJ Books $11.84 1 $11.84
I Love You, Beth Cooper • AKJ Books $10.35 1 $10.35
Madapple • AKJ Books $7.39 1 $7.39
Memoires of a teenage Amnesiac • AKJ Books $12.58 1 $12.58
Gossip Girl • AKJ Books $88.80 1 $88.80
Tyrell • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
Twilight Saga Complete Collection, The (HC) • AKJ Books $71.78 1 $71.78
Great and Terrible Beauty, A • AKJ Books $7.39 1 $7.39
Uglies • AKJ Books $7.39 1 $7.39
Wheel of Time Boxed Set I • AKJ Books $17.00 1 $17.00
Burned • AKJ Books $8.13 1 $8.13
Crank • AKJ Books $8.13 1 $8.13
Glass • AKJ Books $8.13 1 $8.13
Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics Alicia Keys • AKJ Books $11.10 1 $11.10
The Rose That Grew From Concrete • AKJ Books $11.84 1 $11.84
300 Frank Miller (Artist), Frank Miller, Lynn Varley (Artist • AKJ Books $22.20 1 $22.20
The Lovely Bones • AKJ Books $11.09 1 $11.09
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn • AKJ Books $12.57 1 $12.57
Black Ice • AKJ Books $10.36 1 $10.36
Knights of the Hill Country • AKJ Books $5.17 1 $5.17
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream • AKJ Books $11.80 1 $11.80
Always Running • AKJ Books $11.10 1 $11.10
Girl, Interrupted • AKJ Books $10.36 1 $10.36
Glass Castle • AKJ Books $11.84 1 $11.84
True Notebooks: A Writer''s Year at Juvenile Hall • AKJ Books $11.10 1 $11.10
Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till • AKJ Books $14.05 1 $14.05
Watchmen • AKJ Books $14.79 1 $14.79
V for Vendetta Alan Moore, David Lloyd, David Lloyd (Illustr • AKJ Books $14.79 1 $14.79
Anywhere but Here • AKJ Books $11.80 1 $11.80
Ball Don''t Lie Matt de la Pena • AKJ Books $5.91 1 $5.91
Black and White • AKJ Books $5.17 1 $5.17
Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member • AKJ Books $11.06 1 $11.06
Come Back • AKJ Books $11.80 1 $11.80
Cirque Du Freak 1 • AKJ Books $20.97 1 $20.97
Rebel Angels • AKJ Books $7.39 1 $7.39
The Host • AKJ Books $12.57 1 $12.57
Gym Candy • AKJ Books $6.65 1 $6.65
The Dark Knight Returns • AKJ Books $11.09 1 $11.09
Forever... Judy Blume • AKJ Books $5.91 1 $5.91
When I Was Puerto Rican • AKJ Books $11.06 1 $11.06
Book Thief - pb • AKJ Books $9.61 1 $9.61

Materials cost

$795.07

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $62.02

3rd party payment processing fee

$11.93

Fulfillment labor & materials

$35.00

Total project cost

$904.02

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$159.53

Total project goal

$1,063.55

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $1,063.55

13 Donors

-$816.20

Donations toward project cost

-$704.27

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$111.93

match offer

-$235.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$199.75

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$35.25

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$12.35

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

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. Ortbahn and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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