Do you remember getting hooked on a series of books as a child? My students share that excitement and joy of waiting for and then finally devouring the newest books in their favorite series or by their favorite authors. My students are all 2nd language learners trying to navigate the American public school system with English as their second language.
Students at my school are inquisitive, compassionate, and creative.
As English language learners, books are so important and are truly valued as reading is one of the most important things ELL's can do to increase their language skills. Many of my students do not have access to books at home and rely on our school library to check out high-quality books. As we roll into another year of online learning, students' access to books becomes even more limited due to distance from school and the difficulty in trying to check out books from the school library. Having E-Readers for my students would allow them to check out digital books from the public library at the click of a button. This would greatly increase their time spent reading rather than waiting for a book to be delivered to them.
My Project
All of my students are not only learning English in my class but also have to understand what is being taught to them in their core classes. English is one of the most difficult languages to learn and reading has been proven to be one of the best things you can do to acquire English and increase vocabulary skills. I require my students to be reading a book of their choice for at least 20 minutes every day. With school closures due to the pandemic, getting books in students' hands has obviously become challenging. When students are able to access the public library on a Kindle Fire, they will be able to choose from over 35,000 titles, which will help them continue to enjoy independent reading time.
With these Kindle Fires, my students will be able to choose from a variety of books that will allow them to read independently at their own grade level.
They will also be able to choose books that interest them. The best way to increase reading and language ability is to read and be exposed to more vocabulary and the Kindle Fires will continue to help my students grow stronger in reading. My students already have shown an interest in independent reading, and this project will only help enrich their experiences with the printed word and increase their language abilities, which in turn helps make them more successful in their other classes.
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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. Coffman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
