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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Highsmith from Raleigh, NC is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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Fully Funded

Ms. Highsmith's classroom raised $595

Bridging the Gap - Mirror and Windows for All.

My students need a selection of 39 diverse books in their classroom library.

Classroom photo
Ms. Highsmith profile photo
Ms. Highsmith Durant Road Elementary School
Raleigh, NC Grades 3-5

My Students

Diversity is the name of the game in our classroom this year. We are very fortunate to have students from many different backgrounds and cultures in our class. It is a perfect sampling of our diverse culture here at our elementary school.

Students are more engaged in their reading when they are able to connect with the characters in the stories that surround them.

While we as educators are working tirelessly to meet the needs of all of our student's backgrounds, our resources have not quite caught up.

My Project

In an ever growing diverse community, many young readers cannot imagine themselves in the situations that children's book characters find themselves. For example, Junie B. Jones travels to Hawaii in one of her delightful adventures. However, many students live in a society where Junie B's type of "adventure" is not within their reach.

It is my goal to bring in a diverse selection of thirty-nine different books so that every child in my class can be surrounded by characters with whom they are able to identify.

By providing these multicultural selections to students I will be able to make a step forward to encourage more students to immerse themselves in rich text. Students who are able to see themselves in a text are able to peek in the "window" of the book and imagine what life would be like in that setting. Students who closely relate to certain texts can "mirror" or see the connection between the text and themselves. My students will use the books in literature circles and for independent, free-choice reading.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More than half of students from low‑income households

20 students impacted 17 donors
Ms. Highsmith Durant Road Elementary School Grades 3-5

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Raleigh, NC View local requests

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

20 students impacted 17donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Esperanza Rising • Amazon Business $4.99 6 $29.94
Who Is Malala Yousafzai? (Who Was...?) • Amazon Business $4.44 6 $26.64
Who Was Rosa Parks? • Amazon Business $4.36 6 $26.16
Who Was Anne Frank? • Amazon Business $4.24 6 $25.44
Starring Grace (Puffin Chapters) • Amazon Business $4.99 5 $24.95
Amazing Grace (Reading Rainbow Books) • Amazon Business $10.54 2 $21.08
Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection • Amazon Business $15.64 1 $15.64
The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington's Slave Finds Freedom • Amazon Business $15.52 1 $15.52
Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and other Wily Characters • Amazon Business $13.98 1 $13.98
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation (Jane Addams Award Book (Awards)) • Amazon Business $13.68 1 $13.68
Kamishibai Man • Amazon Business $13.28 1 $13.28
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books) • Amazon Business $12.85 1 $12.85
Mixed Me! • Amazon Business $12.68 1 $12.68
The Other Side • Amazon Business $12.38 1 $12.38
When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop (Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent) • Amazon Business $12.12 1 $12.12
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage To Be Who You Are • Amazon Business $11.30 1 $11.30
A Place Where Sunflowers Grow • Amazon Business $9.95 1 $9.95
My Diary from Here to There: Mi diario de aqui hasta alla (English and Spanish Edition) • Amazon Business $9.95 1 $9.95
Tar Beach • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Mrs. Katz and Tush (Reading Rainbow Book) • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom • Amazon Business $7.87 1 $7.87
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman • Amazon Business $7.00 1 $7.00
Gluskabe and the Four Wishes • Amazon Business $6.95 1 $6.95
A Day's Work • Amazon Business $6.95 1 $6.95
Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky • Amazon Business $6.94 1 $6.94
The Name Jar • Amazon Business $6.94 1 $6.94
The Keeping Quilt • Amazon Business $6.51 1 $6.51
Baseball Saved Us • Amazon Business $6.39 1 $6.39
Boundless Grace (Picture Puffins) • Amazon Business $6.29 1 $6.29
The Glory Field • Amazon Business $6.24 1 $6.24
I Love My Hair! • Amazon Business $6.08 1 $6.08
A Chair for My Mother 25th Anniversary Edition (Reading Rainbow Books) • Amazon Business $6.07 1 $6.07
Honey, I Love • Amazon Business $5.91 1 $5.91
Ma'II and Cousin Horned Toad: A Traditional Navajo Story • Amazon Business $4.99 1 $4.99
In a Circle Long Ago: A Treasury of Native Lore from North America: (Native American; ALA Notable Book) • Amazon Business $4.99 1 $4.99
My Name Is Maria Isabel • Amazon Business $4.79 1 $4.79
The Rough-Face Girl • Amazon Business $4.51 1 $4.51
Cherish Today: A Celebration of Life's Moments • Amazon Business $4.00 1 $4.00
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins • Amazon Business $1.61 1 $1.61

Materials cost

$434.55

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $33.89

3rd party payment processing fee

$6.52

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$504.96

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$89.11

Total project goal

$594.07

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $594.07

17 Donors

-$578.19

Donations toward project cost

-$504.96

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$73.23

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$15.88

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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Project Activity

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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. Highsmith and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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