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
For six years, the library at our school was shuttered due to severe budget cuts. Five years ago the library reopened with funding for a Teacher Librarian position, but no budget to purchase books. Through donations and fundraising I have slowly updated the collection, and students are now coming to the library regularly to check out books. But we are still far short of the recommended number of books per student. That means there just aren't enough of the "good books" to go around.
My students attend a Title I, inner-city Los Angeles middle school with 590 students, of which 97.6 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
A quarter of the students are English Learners.
Reading scores are low at our school, but we are on a mission to change that, by giving every student a chance to find that "one good book" that will hook him or her on reading.
My Project
Getting students to read books in the age of video games and YouTube is a real challenge. But, studies show students will read independently when they have access to high-interest books they can self-select. Currently when given a chance to choose their own books in the library, many of our students, especially our English Learners, head straight to the graphic novel section.
Our goal is to add three graphic novel series to the school library collection.
These graphic novels will be especially helpful to our large English Learner population and our struggling readers, who benefit from having the images to bolster their comprehension of the text.
These books will be available to all students in the school. They can read the books during Silent Sustained Reading in class or take them home for their own pleasure reading at night. The books will support our efforts to promote a love of reading in all of our students.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Schlatter and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
