Help me give my students the opportunity to become lifetime readers and learners by providing them with a selection of books and titles that meet their educational needs.
After eighteen years in the classroom, my students are still the best part of my job. Every day I walk into my room toward a new day, just waiting to see what my kids have in store for me and they never disappoint. They come from all walks of life: high and low income, farms and apartments (some even living in tents), with their families and some in foster care, reading above grade-level and barely able to read - but all with a ton of knowledge in their own right and more than willing to pass that information along to whoever is willing to listen AND all eager to learn and absorb new information into their sponge-like brains.
My students deserve the very best that education can provide, but we are currently not in a place, unfortunately, where education is being made a priority.
Thankfully, there are places like DonorsChoose.org that help teachers compensate for what classrooms would otherwise be missing. I have phenomenal students who all have differing needs when they walk through the school doors in the morning, but I owe it to each of them to meet those individual needs - they are worth nothing less.
My Project
Kids want to learn. Kids want to know how to read. Kids want to be able to have educated discussions with their peers about what they are learning in class, but they are afraid to admit when they don't understand or when they need help. Providing my students with a variety of book titles on topics of interest will help put more books in their hands and lower the number of students who struggle with fluency and literacy.
Reading is intimidating and daunting for too many of my students, but reading is exactly what they need to be doing if they want to grow their vocabularies, improve their speaking, improve their writing, and - yes - become better readers.
Graphic novels are a great way to bring apprehensive readers to the table. While the imagery provides struggling readers the opportunity to see the action of the story in pictures rather than words, the story being told incorporates all the necessary information and vocabulary to help students stay caught up with same-age peers and gain the necessary understanding about any topic. Being able to offer students options and choices with how they receive information will alleviate stress and allow for them to experience successes that lead to a willingness to keep trying.
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. Little and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
