This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
I teach in a Philadelphia public school situated in the heart of the city. Our school serves about 600 neighborhood children from kindergarten through fourth grade. This is a Title I school wherein most of our children qualify for free breakfast and lunch. Many of our children have not been regularly exposed to books prior to school. Some have experienced trauma or have faced challenges in their lives which overshadow the focus on those skills which are required to set them up for academic success. Yet, every one has the potential to reach toward grade level reading achievement.
For all of our children, it is our mission to keep school a safe, productive and appealing place filled with engaging literature that serves to fortify those skills necessary for reading achievement and a lifetime of success.
Pinpointing and building those skills which need strengthening now is key to reaching grade level reading proficiency. Immersion in literature and small group strategy building with a variety of texts helps them to see the strategies at work and the roadmap needed in order to more successfully extract meaning from text.
My Project
According to research, children who are not reading proficiently in third grade are much less likely to graduate high school on time or at all. My primary concern is to foster a love of reading for my class NOW so that they beat those odds.
These third graders NEED to see themselves as readers.
They need to trust in the value of reading and feel supported through the extent to which I value that. Immersion in literature is key and building stamina is the focus. Comfortable seating in a carpeted area will allow them to read for enjoyment and extend their time doing so.
Additionally, when those readers are engaged in independent reading, an easel will serve guided readers well as we support the use of the strategies that good readers need to extract meaning from texts. Extending the reading, using markers and crayons( which few of my students have) in artistic representations will serve to allow our student to find their voices.
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. Regan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.