The cost of 38 copies of this book and an audio tape is $788, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
First of all, thank you for your time in reading this. This is my first year teaching 6th-grade students in California. I was previously a junior high English teacher in Arizona where we had unlimited access to wonderful novels and classroom resources. Here at Lincoln Elementary School in Cupertino, however, I am very limited in the quality and quantity of books to use in the classroom.
FI am writing to request copies of a specific book. For the past few years I've been reading "The Watsons go to Birmingham - 1963" with my students. This is one of the best young adult novels I have ever read. Written by Christopher Paul Curtis, this novel tells a tale of an African-American family living in Michigan in 1963. They decide to visit their grandmother in Birmingham, Alabama and encounter much racism and hatred. Towards the end of their visit, they are near a church when it is bombed by Klan members. Curtis uses humor the whole way through, immediately engaging the students. When describing the church bombing the author grasps their imagination without frightening them with gruesome details.
I have already developed wonderful activities and lessons from my previous years teaching that have become "famous" in my old school. I would love to have the resources to repeat this in my class in California. Most of my students are of Asian and Indian decent, some even first generation immigrants. They often experience some racism themselves. I know this will be a very valuable learning experience for them.
I just recently realized the importance of this book even more when teaching about the civil rights movement. I noticed that my students were shocked and appalled at the stories I was telling them about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ernest Green. They had no clue of the severity of these events. I believe that the civil rights movement is a very important and timeless topic to discuss with them.
I know they will get much pleasure, knowledge, and power from reading this novel. I've seen the wonderful effects first-hand. What I am asking for is 38 copies of the book (which will definitely be used in future classes) and an audio tape of the novel, which is read beautifully. Unfortunately, I had to leave all of these wonderful resources in my old school when I left.
Again, thank you for considering this project. You will be giving these children an amazing experience, I promise!
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