As Title I students, the students of our Happy Readers Book Club do not always have access to great books and experiences outside of our school. These students face poverty in a way that many of us cannot imagine. I started the book club this year to give students in grades 3-5 a place to gather and talk openly about the books they are reading.
The students of The Happy Library are learning to not only read books for pleasure, but to use them as a window to the world!
By providing these students with a safe place to talk openly, collaborate on projects, and to share their feelings and thoughts without fear of judgement, the book club has generated a new excitement for reading in our students. And by connecting to authors on Twitter and other schools via Skype, these students are having experiences that stretch beyond the four walls of our little school. It is empowering.
My Project
Students participating in the book club will need access to books selected for communal reading. With a very small library budget, I cannot purchase 20+ copies of the same book title for the library shelves. I can offer discounted pricing on books to book club members, but 90% of our students are coming from homes that simply do not have the money to purchase book titles for their children. So, I would like to request support in purchasing both paperback and hardback books to issue to students, as well as bins for storing the books when not in use.
Students will have access to these books year round.
They will placed in a prominent location in our library and will be labeled with barcodes so that students who wish to participate in book club can check them out during their regular library visits. The bins will help me to organize the books by month (we read one title each month) and to protect the books from damage.
Students in our entire school will eventually benefit from the purchase of the book titles because after the book club selection has been read and discussed in a book club session, the books will then become part of our library collection and other students may access them. This will help grow a very outdated library collection and will have maximum benefit to the 450 students in our school.
It is my hope that by choosing high quality, current children's literature for the students of the book club, I can impact their reading life and growth as readers and as global citizens. It is my belief that reading is the single, most-important activity for building knowledge and fostering imagination. Your generosity will help poor students become rich readers.
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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. Burnham and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
