Help me give my students 2 wonderful books to read during distance learning.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Melgar's classroom raised $849
This project is fully funded
Celebrating 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
My students have grit! Character. Spirit. Perseverance. Passion.
Everyone has a story.
My students may only be 9, 10 and 11, but they already have a lifetime worth of stories to tell. It is my job to provide them with the tools to help them refine their storytelling.
I am one of the lucky people who enjoy going to work every day, so I am happy to be part of the 99%. My students are free spirits and are sponges waiting to soak everything up. They attend school in a densely populated part of the city.
My Project
As we are continuing strong into week 17 of distance learning, it is clearer than ever that in order to keep our students engaged, we have to keep moving and connecting beyond the screen. By providing students with a book in hand, we are telling students that learning continues to happen without the devices and without Zoom.
Getting copies of these books for all of my students will allow me to send a book home to each student.
Students will be able to read, attach post-its for annotations, mark specific pages for reference and/or discussions, and prepare for classroom discourse as we discuss the books more in depth during our socratic seminars and during our break-out room sessions.
I've selected Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate because it is relatable to my students. The family in the story struggles with homelessness but never with hopelessness. The book tackles job loss, food shortages, and illnesses. There are some parallels we can find in our current life situation now. I envision rich, close to the heart conversations that will lend itself to organic personal pieces of writing.
Additionally, I've selected Hidden Figures because of its strong civil rights and women's history content. If timed correctly, we will open February, Black History Month, with the reading of this book. The inspiring women in history lead with passion regardless to segregation attempting to keep them down. As the great Maya Angelou once said, "Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better." From our virtual book club, students will select one of the 4 women in the literature to create a short film.
More than three‑quarters of 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 Mr. Melgar and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
