Books A-Plenty for Plenty of Kids!

At our Charter School, students love to read. I discovered this early on in my first year as a Teach for America second grade teacher. After completing my two year commitment to Teach for America, I chose to remain at my school as a reading interventionist serving kindergarten and first grade students. Now in my third year of teaching reading, two things have become crystal clear. First, our students love nothing more than learning to become better readers. Second, we need many more books to help our students reach their goals.

Every morning, I sit down with a small group of 1st graders, all on the edge of their seats to find out what today's new book will be. With great suspense and drama, I slowly reveal the cover of the new book I have created lesson plans and activities for. Surely, it will be a hit. "I read that book last year!" "My other teacher read that book with me!" "We read that book in the library yesterday!" The disappointment is obvious. The learning is minimal and boring. The next day, determined to engage my eager students, I go to the Book Room and look on the B shelf in an attempt to find a new and exciting book on the same reading level as my group. Sadly, there are no more books available. They've been checked out by other teachers. There just aren't enough books to go around.

A rich supply of books is essential to helping our students learn to read, and continue to love the process. Guided reading book sets contain six copies of the same book, so children can learn in the best setting - a small group. This set of guided reading books will provide groups of children with the reading instruction they need everyday. Thirty six more titles will mean thirty six groups can be served at the same time! In fact, it will take one kindergarten teacher over 7 weeks to use all these books with just one group of eager readers.

With your help, our Book Room will overflow with book sets and our students will continue to love learning to read!