"Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider. Girls go to college to get more knowledge!" We've heard that rhyme chanted on the playground by giggling little girls for decades, but I honestly worry that my boys are being short-changed due to the lack of nonfiction reading materials in our classroom.
My kindergarten class is full of bright, beautiful, energetic children.
The majority of my students come from homes living below the poverty level (the unemployment rate for the Tribe is around 80%), and, for many, their only exposure to books is at school. This is my second year at this school, and it is still early in this school year, but I can tell you that my boys in last years' class did not get the early literacy skills that they needed before entering kindergarten. The gap in their abilities was tremendous. I have taught many different grade levels, but I do believe that kindergarten is the most important - I believe that my students need to leave my classroom reading at grade level, or they will struggle throughout school and possibly throughout life.
My Project
So, why my push for nonfiction books? My classroom has a small cart that I keep our books on - unfortunately, they only take up one side of the cart, and we don't actually have enough books to make it down to the third shelf. Not only do we have a lack of books in general, we REALLY have a lack of nonfiction books. Research shows that boys prefer nonfiction books and are more likely to become readers if they are able to choose books that they find interesting. Boys want to read books that offer opportunities to discover, experiment, explore, learn new things, laugh, see how things work, learn trivia, and explore the unknown. All of our fairy tale and talking animal books are just not cutting it! With this project, 76 nonfiction books and 5 sets of literacy flash cards would be added to our classroom. My students would have access to books about math, careers, bugs, cultural diversity, animals, the environment, character building, weather, and numerous other science concepts.
I see the disappointment on my boys' face when it is their turn to have Reading Center.
I'd love to see the excitement that comes with knowing there will be something "cool" for them to read or learn or look at.
Your donation will help create excitement about reading now, which will in turn set the tone for future learning... please help my boys join those girls in "going to college to get more knowledge"!
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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. Vaughn and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.