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Mrs. Carroll from Greenwood IN is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

Ditch the Textbook: Making Reading About History Interesting

Help me give my students high-interest non-fiction texts and historical fiction novels that they can read during SSR in order to better engage with the historical time periods we study.

  • $578 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

My Students

My students are aspiring college students. As sophomores in high school, they are working through an accelerated curriculum in order to prepare for two years of dual credit opportunities in high school. However, the largest obstacle for many of these students is their reading load.

While my students are compliant learners, many struggle to read assigned texts because they do not have the reading stamina nor do they have an interest in reading.

SSR is a regular part of our class; however, the book choices I can offer students are not the newest releases, nor do I have books for every interest level. While I spend hundreds each year trying to stock my classroom library, there is only so much I can buy at Half Price Books

I am seeking additional funds to order the newest, most popular historical fiction and non-fiction texts to help students develop a love of reading, while enhancing their interest in history and many of the units we study, a skill I know will enable them to reach their ultimate goal: college.

My Project

Every year we do a literary "speed dating" activity in my sophomore American Studies class to give students a chance to peruse choice novels they can read for SSR. Every year I watch as students shuffle through the piles of books, tossing aside books that have been in my classroom for 10-plus years, many culled from garage sales, Goodwill and library purges. It's hard to get kids excited about reading when their options are so limited.

I dream of a day that my students love reading and history as much as I do, and I know that can happen if students just have access to the "right" book that tells the story of history through the eyes of captivating people and characters.

This project aims to put that book in every student's hand and create a classroom culture centered around reading. Many of these students enjoyed reading in elementary school when they got to head to the library once a week to pick out a book. But, somewhere along the way, the pressures of standardized tests, state standards, and scaling grades have caused pleasure reading to be the "forgotten" part of the English class. In an integrated classroom, I am excited to pair that English pleasure reading with historical fiction novels and non-fiction texts that will let students continue to learn about many of the topics we cover in class.

Well, we're bringing back the good stuff! We're going to read the first 15-20 minutes of every class period in an effort to reignite students' love of reading!

Mrs. Carroll
Grades 9-12

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Where Your Donation Goes

Materials Cost Quantity Total
The Giver of Stars: A Novel • Amazon Business $16.80 1 $16.80
The Reaper: Autobiography of One of the Deadliest Special Ops Snipers • Amazon Business $15.08 1 $15.08
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)) • Amazon Business $14.79 1 $14.79
Lost Roses: A Novel • Amazon Business $14.69 1 $14.69
Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia • Amazon Business $14.59 1 $14.59
Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of "The Children's Ship" • Amazon Business $14.39 1 $14.39
America's First Daughter: A Novel • Amazon Business $14.11 1 $14.11
Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All • Amazon Business $13.79 1 $13.79
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage • Amazon Business $13.39 1 $13.39
Allies • Amazon Business $12.99 1 $12.99
The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II • Amazon Business $12.89 1 $12.89
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland • Amazon Business $12.81 1 $12.81
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir • Amazon Business $12.59 1 $12.59
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man • Amazon Business $12.39 1 $12.39
Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)) • Amazon Business $12.19 1 $12.19
All for One (The Alex & Eliza Trilogy) • Amazon Business $11.94 1 $11.94
The Other Einstein: A Novel • Amazon Business $11.89 1 $11.89
Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II • Amazon Business $10.99 1 $10.99
Hamilton and Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship • Amazon Business $10.99 1 $10.99
Reaper: Ghost Target: A Sniper Novel (The Reaper Series) • Amazon Business $9.99 1 $9.99
Way of the Reaper: My Greatest Untold Missions and the Art of Being a Sniper • Amazon Business $9.99 1 $9.99
Reaper: Threat Zero: A Sniper Novel (The Reaper Series) • Amazon Business $9.99 1 $9.99
Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive • Amazon Business $9.89 1 $9.89
Refugee • Amazon Business $9.74 1 $9.74
Carnegie's Maid: A Novel • Amazon Business $9.59 1 $9.59
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights • Amazon Business $9.48 1 $9.48
Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon • Amazon Business $9.48 1 $9.48
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton • Amazon Business $9.39 1 $9.39
The Tattooist of Auschwitz: A Novel • Amazon Business $9.39 1 $9.39
Flight of the Sparrow: A Novel of Early America • Amazon Business $9.16 1 $9.16
Invasion • Amazon Business $8.99 1 $8.99
Riot • Amazon Business $8.69 1 $8.69
Alex & Eliza (The Alex & Eliza Trilogy) • Amazon Business $8.49 1 $8.49
Love & War (The Alex & Eliza Trilogy) • Amazon Business $8.49 1 $8.49
Sold on a Monday: A Novel • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Elephant in the Garden • Amazon Business $7.89 1 $7.89
The Boys in the Boat (Young Readers Adaptation): The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics • Amazon Business $7.89 1 $7.89
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption • Amazon Business $7.89 1 $7.89
In the Lake of the Woods • Amazon Business $7.79 1 $7.79
Beneath a Scarlet Sky: A Novel • Amazon Business $7.49 1 $7.49
Storm Too Soon (Young Readers Edition) (True Rescue Series) • Amazon Business $6.98 1 $6.98
THE FINEST HOURS (True Rescue Series) • Amazon Business $6.29 1 $6.29

Materials cost

$454.26

Vendor shipping charges

FREE

Sales tax

$0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$6.81

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$491.07

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$86.66

Total project goal

$577.73

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

$577.73

8 Donors

-$459.44

Donations toward project cost

-$410.32

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$49.12

match offer

-$95.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$80.75

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$14.25

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$23.29

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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