I teach in a rural, public elementary school with 400 students, grades 4K-6. Many students choose to participate in sports, Destination Imagination, music, and band. We keep our class sizes small, with 16-20 students in each classroom in grades K-3. In this way, we can offer as much personal attention to each child’s needs as possible.
My students are sweet and full of potential, but the poverty level is high, with a 52% free and reduced-price lunch population.
Nonetheless, my school tries very hard to afford all students the same opportunities, no matter what social or economic situation may exist in their lives. All students are offered free breakfast, and we have a peer mentoring program run by our high school students that attends to the primary students' social-emotional needs and offers free supper as well.
Personally, I take time to get to know each child in my classroom as a whole person. My goal throughout the year is to understand their academic strengths and weaknesses as well as their character strengths and weakness. I love being their friend, teacher, and hopefully a role model.
My Project
My second grade students are just beginning to read chapter books. Having this ability opens doors that they never knew existed! In addition, my students love Dav Pilkey books, and I adore his writing as well! Every year I introduce "Captain Underpants" and "Ricky Ricotta" to my students. It takes no convincing at all, the students open the books and they are hooked... and for this I am forever grateful to Dav Pilkey!
Hearing about this experience, you can understand why my students NEED books about dogs written by Dav Pilkey!
I like to start my school year with a pet theme, and all my students can relate to having or wanting a pet dog. Reading about dogs, even fictitious dogs, is exciting for my students. The dog books I have chosen for this project are my students’ favorite. They have worn out the few copies that I own, which I have asked them to share over and over. Being able to offer these books to my students will allow my whole class to enjoy Pilkey at the same time. We will be able to compare characters and settings among the books, as well as study the word choice of an amazing author!
To make the experience even better, I have added some low reading level books that are also following the dog topic. Luckily Dav Pilkey has written books that excite students and address their need to start with simple words and progress to more difficult reading levels! Thank you, Dav Pilkey!
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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 Mrs. Jaime Robinson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.