My students are eager to learn, and they are highly motivated to succeed in life. They love being engaged in meaningful activities and discussions around books. Each of my students are unique and have so much to share. My students mirror the diversity of our school’s community. 100% of the 5th grade students receive free lunch. They have a range of reading skills spanning from Kindergarten reading levels to 5th grade.
I love to read and hope that by connecting students and writers, this will change the dynamics of reading through technology such as Skype, FaceTime, publishing stations, and book clubs.
Daily, I teach all the 5th graders Reading, ELA, and Social Studies. Students are engaged in a lot of read alouds and through reading students can explore new adventures. My students face great adversity at home and due to the effects of Hurricane Florence. Our community was severely affected by the storm with many students being displaced or losing their homes and belongings. One thing that has allowed them to escape their troubles is through literature.
My Project
To assure that my students continue to improve their reading skills, they will have access to leveled books for the book club that span the range of readers in my class. Because of damage from Hurricane Florence in our Media Center, many of the books that we would normally have access to are either damaged or are in really bad shape. My students love reading but unfortunately we just don't have enough copies of high interest books for them to read.
With this project my students will be able to connect with authors through virtual school visits – using Skype or FaceTime.
While in-person authors’ visits can be very expensive, having the correct technology, my students will be able to participate in short free video-chat sessions about the author’s books.
Such virtual interactions will change the mindset of my students, parents, and staff. Learning will no longer be confined to the four walls of the classroom. Students will virtually visit with authors and receive authentic feedback about their published books and books that were written by the authors.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Hutchinson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.