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

Free Your Mind

My students need updated, high-interest books to intrigue them! Reading Rocks!

  • $709 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

My Students

My kids...wow! My kids have shown me so many things over the years. They are observant, kind, funny, and insightful, but they also struggle with motivation, perseverance, and hard-work. When we discuss in class, or work together, the wheels keep turning. Outside of class, they lack the willpower to get assignments done. But, they love to read!

I teach in a small rural school in Indiana.

We have a large Christian community with a good amount of parental support. We do have many students from low-income homes, move from parent to parent during the week and struggle with motivation.

My Project

I want my kids to get lost in a book. Put down the technology and travel to another place. Obtaining a plethora of new books will go a long way in my classroom. I have implemented more time for personal choice reading, and the kids are loving it. However, I am only able to purchase a small number of books each year on my own. There are SO many fantastic new books all the time, and I could just keep listing them! I would love to have more books for the kids to choose from. I typically order books from the scholastic book order, but they don't offer some of the popular titles, or subject matter that the students are interested in.

I have been teaching for 17 years, and many of the books on my shelves are outdated.

No matter how I try to "talk-up" a book, I can't get the kids to read them. BUT, when I do order new books from the book order and tell the kids about each one, they are checked out in a heartbeat. I want my kids to love reading. Even then they don't think they are learning anything, I can have the students show the skills they have learned using their own books.

Mrs. Thomas
Grades 6-8

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Roughneck • AKJ Education $21.89 1 $21.89
She Rides Shotgun • AKJ Education $19.70 1 $19.70
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II • AKJ Education $18.24 1 $18.24
Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates • AKJ Education $17.06 1 $17.06
Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science • AKJ Education $16.05 1 $16.05
Sachiko • AKJ Education $14.59 1 $14.59
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights • AKJ Education $14.59 1 $14.59
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights • AKJ Education $14.59 1 $14.59
Vincent and Theo • AKJ Education $14.59 1 $14.59
Drowned City Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans • AKJ Education $13.86 1 $13.86
Strange the Dreamer • AKJ Education $13.86 1 $13.86
Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business--and Won! • AKJ Education $13.86 1 $13.86
The Boys in the Boat • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
Tell Me Something Real • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
If I Was Your Girl • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
DEAR MARTIN • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
The Smell of Other People's Houses • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
The 57 Bus • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
Down Among the Sticks and Bones • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
Long Way Down • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
Laughing at My Nightmare • AKJ Education $13.13 1 $13.13
Spies of Mississippi • AKJ Education $12.37 1 $12.37
A Stolen Life • AKJ Education $11.68 1 $11.68
Beloved • AKJ Education $11.68 1 $11.68
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn • AKJ Education $11.67 1 $11.67
Malagash • AKJ Education $11.66 1 $11.66
Julian Nava: My Mexican-American Journey • AKJ Education $9.95 1 $9.95
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier • AKJ Education $9.49 1 $9.49
They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group • AKJ Education $9.48 1 $9.48
The Bite of the Mango • AKJ Education $9.45 1 $9.45
Every Day • AKJ Education $8.02 1 $8.02
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different • AKJ Education $8.02 1 $8.02
Getting Away with Murder • AKJ Education $8.02 1 $8.02
Outcasts United The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
After Ever After • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
The Dark Game: True Spy Stories from Invisible Ink to CIA Moles • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
Out of Nowhere • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
We Were Here • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
The Living • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
Kindness for Weakness • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
Ten • AKJ Education $7.29 1 $7.29
Candy Bomber The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" • AKJ Education $7.26 1 $7.26
Paralyzed • AKJ Education $7.26 1 $7.26
Hurricane Power • AKJ Education $7.26 1 $7.26
127 Hours Between a Rock and a Hard Place • AKJ Education $6.75 1 $6.75
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind • AKJ Education $6.56 1 $6.56
And Then There Were None • AKJ Education $5.83 1 $5.83
Notes from the Dog • AKJ Education $5.10 1 $5.10
The Other Side of Dark • AKJ Education $4.15 1 $4.15
41 Stories: 150th Anniversary Edition • AKJ Education $2.43 1 $2.43

Materials cost

$563.88

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$8.46

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$602.34

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$106.30

Total project goal

$708.64

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $708.64

2 Donors

-$679.22

Donations toward project cost

-$581.09

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$98.13

match offer

-$25.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$21.25

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$3.75

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$4.42

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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. Thomas and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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