I believe that my classroom should be a student-centered, active, authentic, democratic, rigorous, challenging and safe place for my 5th grade students to grow as learners. As a dedicated Reading and Writing Workshop teacher, this means providing my students with high-quality mentor texts.
My students are 5th graders who come from a variety of backgrounds.
Our school is a Title I school and is situated in a small town on the coast of Lake Michigan. For the past 5 years the percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged has been rising. Approximately 65% of our students qualify for the federal free or reduced lunch program. Despite these disadvantages, my students are kind, thoughtful young men and women who work hard in school each and every day.
For the past 4 years in a row, our school as been named a Wisconsin School of Recognition for "Beating the Odds." This is a testament to the hard work of these students.
My Project
Students need high-quality resources and one area our school needs to improve upon is the kinds of mentor texts we use in our Writing Workshop program. These mentor texts will be used by the teacher in mini lessons as well as by students to analyze the kinds of writing moves published authors use to grab and maintain readers' attention. The texts selected will help students improve their Narrative, Fiction, Persuasive, and Informational writing. The texts also recognize the need for more nonfiction texts in elementary classrooms, and were based on the suggestion of M. Colleen Cruz in her book, The Unstoppable Writing Teacher.
I am so excited to utilize these new resources for the upcoming school year!
By donating to this project you will be putting more texts into hands of students who desperately need them.
By nurturing students to be lifelong readers and writers now, we create a stronger future for all of us.
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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. Schardt and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.