Each day we start with our student creed: "Remember every day is a new day! I will believe and achieve!" You will also hear reminders like "I will not let me words or actions hurt others and if others won't become part of the solution, I WILL!"
We are 22 amazing Third Graders!
We are diverse in our race, gender, religion, culture and resources; and yet we all do our best each day to grow ourselves as learners. Our school provides opportunities for all students within the city of St. Louis, and we pride ourselves on our diversity. Most notably almost 30% of our school receives ELL services, with upwards of 12 native languages spoken by our families. We also service a large (approximately 30%) special education population as well.
Our class is an ELL cluster class; with close to 75% of our class receiving ELL services, in addition to our ELL services, we have many students receiving additional special education or resource minutes in literacy and math. We don't let these obstacles prevent us from doing our best each day!
My Project
My goal each year is to see as many students as possible reading on grade level by the time they leave my class. This goal is difficult to reach, but not unattainable. One way we grow readers is through independent reading, both at home and school. I believe that one of the biggest factors in growing readers is to find books which students can relate to and are interested to read.
This can be tricky for students who are different from their peers, or from the majority of main stream books. It can also be difficult to find books for my lower readers which do not embarrass them or make them feel singled out for being behind. When characters look like, speak like or live like my students it helps that student connect much easier to the texts they are reading. We need a strong selection of high interest books for ELL and special needs students to increase reading skills.
With these collections of books I am hoping that my readers can all find texts which they identify with personally, and texts which help them connect with each other.
By increasing their reading skills, they will find improved academic success in all areas. I look forward to watching these texts Help them grow both personally and academically.
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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. Schilling and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.