5th Grade Class Strives To Believe And Achieve

Celebrating 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.

I am a third year teaching fellow at PS 85. I teach a 5th grade bilingual special education class with a ratio of 12:1. Normally I have anywhere from 8 to 9 students in my class. This year I have been moved to a bigger classroom because I now have a 13 child roster. When I first joined the fellows program I had no idea how much I would love teaching. I have experienced so much over my first two years with the exception of one thing. I have never experienced the joy a child feels when they walk into a classroom that has new books in the library and some new furniture. All the books that I have in my classroom have been handed down to me by teachers that no longer needed them. Some books are in adequate condition while others are falling apart. I've somehow managed to maintain the same library for two years and am ready to begin this year with the same. My learning centers are also in pretty bad shape. The bookshelves which house my centers are ancient and falling apart. It makes for a very unattractive learning environment. My paraprofessionals and I have done all we can to decorate our classroom in bright, inviting colors with handmade charts and bulletin boards. Even with this effort it is very discouraging to look at the library and learning centers. I am asking for help to establish a different environment in my classroom - an environment that has a new leveled library for grades 3 through 5. Many of my students are functioning below grade level and having lower level books would help us as teachers to increase their reading and writing performance. I am also asking for four 2-shelf bookshelves. These would be used to house learning centers that our students could be proud of and feel good about. And finally, I am asking for a guided reading library. Guided reading has been shown to significantly increase student reading fluency and comprehension. I would love to begin guided reading with my students, but I do not have any materials to able to begin the process. I am not asking for the most expensive items, I am asking for the least expensive alternative on all fronts. My sincere desire is to provide the most inviting learning environment for my students so that they can progress and achieve success throughout the year. With your help, I am confident that I can accomplish this goal. Thank you for your time and consideration.