What an amazing bunch of students! Our kids are something special. They come from a small town on the western slope of Colorado which affords them both the advantages and disadvantages of rural living. These are happy, inquisitive, resourceful little people.
Our school is a Title I school, which means we have a high percentage of students from low income families.
Despite having far fewer resources than other schools, our kids view each day with a positive "I can do" attitude. These are kids who want to come to school and are excited to learn about new topics. What amazes me most is how children who have so little in material goods can be so appreciative of the things they do have.
My Project
Our schools is on a mission to get our kids reading at home. It's a serious deficiency and concern in our county. However, you can help us turn that around. Nothing feels better than choosing your own book and knowing that it's all yours. This projects is about giving our students multiple opportunities to earn books so they can build their own home libraries.
Our K-5th graders need books in their homes.
In a study of nearly 100,000 U.S. school children, access to printed materials was the key variable affecting reading acquisition. (McQuillan, 1998) We want to increase our kids' access to books so they can reach their reading potential and improve their chances of future success. With your help, we will be purchasing an assortment of hundreds of books for K-5th graders. This assortment will provide choices for student interests and reading levels. How will it work?
Kids can earn tokens for a myriad of accomplishments: showing kindness to others, good behavior, homework completion, following procedures, attendance, etc. In turn, they will use these tokens to "buy" books for their home libraries. Not only will this get books in the hands of kids, it also fosters a positive school culture. Best of all, any and every kid can earn books! Why earn the books? When we feel we have earned something, we take more ownership and pride. Our kids will feel empowered.
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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. Rodriguez and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
