My students need high quality books and magazines that model the reading and writing skills and strategies we learn in 3rd grade. We need items such as If You Find a Rock, or Sports Illustrated for Kids.
"Be silly, Be honest, Be kind." - Ralph Waldo Emerson This quote is framed at the front of our room to remind us to learn from each other as we work to become better readers, writers, and mathematicians.
We are a neighborhood public school in the heart of Baltimore.
Class sizes range from 20-27 and our students come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. We are a Title I school serving our community and we offer after-school enrichment programs in chess, drama, robotics, Girl Scouts, and book club. Our students have weekly instruction in art, gym, and library and each spring we stage a school musical for which students audition and create set pieces and props. We are vibrant, but we struggle with funding, to say the least. Many of our students struggle with foundational skills in reading and work well below grade-level. Small group instruction is an integral part of our classroom day. As a teacher, I supply my classroom supplies such as classroom library books, student book boxes and poetry journals, bookshelves, and rugs. These materials create a warm and inviting classroom in which my students can become lifelong readers and learners.
My Project
Children must explore high quality literature on a daily basis in order to become fluent readers and writers. As a teacher, I constantly strive to bring new resources and materials to my class for my students to explore. This set of books will serve as "mentor texts" or class read-aloud books to supplement our district reading and writing curriculum. We will use these books as models of high quality writing, discuss what strategies we notice writers use to tell their story, and model our own independent writing on the texts.
My students are voracious readers and they anxiously await each new book we read together.
My 3rd graders have access to our classroom library to choose books for independent reading. Our classroom library consists of books that I have bought or have been donated by students and their families. In addition to independent reading materials, my students also need mentor texts so that they can hear and read high quality literature and use what they learn in their own writing. These books have been chosen based on specific skills and strategies my 3rd graders need to incorporate into their own writing - from complete sentences and punctuation to grammar and text structure.
These books have lived on my Amazon wish list and I will often order a book or two as I move through my curriculum and notice that I need to reinforce or reteach certain skills. It adds up fast! This year I will have the pleasure of teaching many of the same students I taught last year in 2nd grade - which means my students need new mentor texts to support their learning. This is a hungry group of readers and these books will help them grow as readers and writers.
More than three‑quarters 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
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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. McDermott Rozanc and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
