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
VZG Elementary is a majority low-income school with over 90% of the students receiving free or reduced-rate lunch. They come to class with barely a pencil to use to finish their work and rely on their main meals and snack to be provided at school. About 60% of the student population is African American. A little under 40% are Hispanic, and a large population of those students is Dual Language where they're working extra hard to learn and become proficient in both languages.
Even with these things in their background and history, most of the students come to school for a safe, fun, and welcoming place.
They're ready to learn and better themselves because they want to help their family do better.
My Project
The books chosen all represent diverse main characters. To get students excited and wanting to read, they need to be able to find themselves and see themselves or their family in the books they find in the library. Because our elementary is a multi-racial campus, I want to be able to provide a large collection that they can find to represent themselves. In elementary school, they are just learning about and developing a love of reading that could sustain them the rest of their lives. To be able to do this, they need to see and find books that represent them that they love. The more books they find about themselves, their history, their background, or their culture, the more likely they will be encouraged to pick up that book and try to read it. We've gotten a few diverse character books, and it makes me happy and sad. I am happy because those books are flying off the shelves every time they come back to the library. The kids love them! But it also makes me sad, because we don't have enough of them. There is always a long waiting list for our diverse books.
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. Guzman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
