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Mrs. Schaefer from Sarasota FL is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

Fabulous Books for Fabulous Firsties!

Help me give my students high quality books, filled with rich vocabulary, diverse experiences and characters, and plenty of opportunities for mastering 1st grade reading skills in a meaningful and enjoyable way.

  • $591 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

I teach 18 diverse first graders at a Title 1 School, with an emphasis on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics). My students face many challenges outside of school: poverty, homelessness, family changes. It's a pleasure and a challenge to provide them with a safe haven.

My students are future leaders, scholars, and world-changers.

They have dreams of being police officers, teachers, doctors, superheroes, and cowboys! With a solid education - starting with developing literacy and critical thinking skills in 1st grade - my students will grow up to have choices about their futures.

My Project

My students come to me with varied reading levels, from non-readers to advanced readers. Due to our demographic, most of our students have limited experiences and exposure as compared to children from more affluent families. In addition, many of my students come from families with limited English.

By using specially selected, high quality literature, I can close these gaps - giving my students access to experiences, vocabulary, and opportunities for critical thinking regardless of language, economics, or even reading skills.

Low reading level books (aka "early readers") are fantastic and certainly have a place in a small group setting, to develop reading skills and fluency. But, in the meantime, it is imperative that my students learn to love literature and all that it can do for them. By supplying my class with these high qualities book, I can continue to expose my students to rich read-alouds that will stretch their horizons as they work towards becoming independent readers. These books were selected because they each can be used to teach our state's standards in a meaningful and accessible way. In addition, approximately half of these books are chosen because they can be used as a lead-in for STEM projects.

With these books, readers of all levels can and will grow in their creative thinking, critical thinking, vocabulary, and use of important reading strategies.

Please also notice that the themes of many of these books involve problem solving, perseverance, kindness, integrity, and individuality.

Thank you for helping me foster a love of learning and literacy in my students!

Mrs. Schaefer
Grades PreK-2

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Where Your Donation Goes

Materials Cost Quantity Total
Cloudette • Amazon Business $17.99 1 $17.99
Penguin in Peril • Amazon Business $16.99 1 $16.99
The Big Bed • Amazon Business $16.14 1 $16.14
You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy? • Amazon Business $15.19 1 $15.19
Hoot and Peep • Amazon Business $14.57 1 $14.57
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Commended) • Amazon Business $14.46 1 $14.46
The Great Spruce • Amazon Business $14.39 1 $14.39
The Recess Queen • Amazon Business $14.32 1 $14.32
If Your Monster Won't Go To Bed • Amazon Business $14.27 1 $14.27
A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree • Amazon Business $14.22 1 $14.22
The Darkest Dark • Amazon Business $14.05 1 $14.05
The Animals' Santa • Amazon Business $14.03 1 $14.03
School's First Day of School • Amazon Business $14.00 1 $14.00
Maddi's Fridge • Amazon Business $13.83 1 $13.83
The Bad Seed • Amazon Business $13.66 1 $13.66
Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade (Bank Street College of Education Flora Stieglitz Straus Award (Awards)) • Amazon Business $13.23 1 $13.23
If I Built a House • Amazon Business $11.78 1 $11.78
We're All Wonders • Amazon Business $11.59 1 $11.59
The Day the Crayons Quit • Amazon Business $11.44 1 $11.44
Leaf Man • Amazon Business $11.41 1 $11.41
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin (Amazing Scientists) • Amazon Business $11.27 1 $11.27
Iggy Peck, Architect • Amazon Business $11.07 1 $11.07
Nerdy Birdy • Amazon Business $10.98 1 $10.98
Real Cowboys • Amazon Business $10.68 1 $10.68
What Do You Do With an Idea? — New York Times best seller • Amazon Business $10.61 1 $10.61
Oskar and the Eight Blessings • Amazon Business $10.23 1 $10.23
Ida, Always • Amazon Business $9.98 1 $9.98
Perfect Square • Amazon Business $9.31 1 $9.31
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon • Amazon Business $9.19 1 $9.19
Pumpkin Soup: A Picture Book • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
The Scarecrow's Hat • Amazon Business $7.95 1 $7.95
Over and Under the Snow • Amazon Business $7.59 1 $7.59
Sylvie • Amazon Business $7.59 1 $7.59
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Dragonfly Books) • Amazon Business $7.42 1 $7.42
Groundhog Day! • Amazon Business $7.42 1 $7.42
Basketball Belles: How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player Put Women's Hoops on the Map • Amazon Business $7.30 1 $7.30
Chameleons Are Cool: Read and Wonder • Amazon Business $6.99 1 $6.99
Martin's Big Words (Big Words): The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. • Amazon Business $6.98 1 $6.98
Day It Rained Hearts • Amazon Business $6.98 1 $6.98
Snowballs (Rise and Shine) • Amazon Business $6.21 1 $6.21
If I Were President • Amazon Business $5.91 1 $5.91

Materials cost

$461.21

Vendor shipping charges

$3.99

Sales tax

$0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$6.92

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$502.12

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$88.61

Total project goal

$590.73

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

$590.73

15 Donors

-$538.96

Donations toward project cost

-$459.62

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$79.34

match offer

-$50.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$42.50

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$7.50

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$1.77

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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