My students need a variety of books that are at grade level or above. We have personal reading time every day and the class library needs a variety of genres and topics.
"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting." -Edmund Burke
This is my philosophy about reading that I try to instill into my students. I changed grades starting this coming year, and I need books that will meet the needs of my students. I like to have all genres.
I am going to be teaching eighth grade Language Arts starting this year.
My students are eager readers (I had them last year in seventh grade). They love that they get to choose what they want to read. That's why I have such a large library in my classroom with all genres represented. We read every day in class and then journal about the books. We discuss theme, mood, and all the elements of literature. I even have reluctant readers tell me they finally found books to read and actually enjoy them!
Our school is a 6-8 grade school in a small school district. We have around 200 students in our school. We also have a very high poverty rate with a lot of free and reduced lunch students. You wouldn't know this by looking at our school or our students. Most of our students are involved in extracurricular activities, band, or choir. They all seem to be friends since they have gone all through school together. (We are a one-school district.) It is a great environment to learn and to teach in!
My Project
I need a very large classroom library. Every few weeks I'll "feature" certain books; they usually go with a theme that we are learning about. For example, Black History, the Holocaust, etc. I do book talks about some of my favorites, and I let students book talk if they want to as well. The Common Core asks students to compare and contrast, take a side of an issue and argue valid points, use textual evidence when answering questions about their books, and to read and comprehend various types of literature.
I use different activities, such as journaling, making an important scene from the book, writing a summary from a different character's point of view, debates, and writing a scene into a play to help with comprehension. By having a diverse library, my students will be able to learn about different events in history, read about people who had to overcome an obstacle in their lives, learn to appreciate how life is now compared to life for others in the past, and get lost in an imaginary world.
Donations to this project will help me develop a library that will help students become better readers.
Students need to like what they are reading, so if I have a lot of choices, students should be able to find something they like. I firmly believe that the more students read, the better they will get. Being a good reader and being able to comprehend well will help them succeed in all of their other classes. Mastered reading skills will help students be successful in the "real world" as well.
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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 Ms. Thomson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.