Many of my second graders in our small, rural town come to school with challenges in their lives, and low expectations about their future.
We are a small budget, small town school, that is trying to think big.
Our district is not a wealthy one. The PTAs of some schools in the county raise more money in a year than our annual building budget! They bring in Chinese acrobats for assemblies - we power wash our chairs to make them look newer. Though many of my kids don't have a lot, they have big hearts and love making a difference by making Valentine's for Vets, donating their stuffed animals to kids in Guatemala, and sending cards to kids at the Shoe4Africa Children’s Hospital.
At our school, we work hard to break the cycle of poverty and level the playing field for these kids, since all kids deserve the same chance at success. To do this, we must get creative with our funding sources. Thanks for considering a donation to help us!
My Project
Reading does not come easy to all beginning readers. For those for whom reading is a challenge, discouragement can set in quickly. Discouraged, these children choose to read on their own even less, and fall further and further behind. How can we break this cycle?
My at risk second grade readers need structured success.
Some of these readers do not have adults they can read with at home on a regular basis, nor do they have access to appropriate books to read at home. They need books they can read and understand independently. A carefully selected library of books that are at a beginning reading level but are longer in length help build stamina, confidence and success. Once children have success and begin to see themselves as readers, the cycle becomes a positive loop. They want to read on their own. They choose to read on their own. As their home reading time increases, they begin to catch up to their peers instead of fall behind.
One challenge is that these same at risk readers are often the ones who lose or damage their library books and end up not being able to check out books for most of the year. To compensate for that, I have begun to lend out books from my own personal classroom library. This has been very successful, but I have found I need more beginning readers to feed these kids when their success catches fire. The collection of classic and contemporary easy readers selected for this project are a perfect match for these at risk readers. Your help in supporting the success of these children is greatly appreciated!
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Ryckman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
