My students need a class set of "I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001" to put a copy in each student's hands and three copies of "I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944".
"Did I just read that?" I'll never forget the day that one of my students, who was reading first and second grade books with a lot of difficulty, read AND UNDERSTOOD a high-level book he had wanted to read since the beginning of the year. "I read it! I read it! I love to read now!"
This is why I do what I do.
I want to show my students that learning isn't just something you do at school. It's something that gives you the key to a door that opens to a whole new world ready for you to explore. Students enter worlds they never knew existed and understand concepts they never dreamed to imagine.
My students are a group of wild, independent, and vastly different people that, without realizing it, end up teaching me more than I could ever teach them.
My Project
This year my students will be learning about the tragic events of September 11, and in fifth grade that is a very tough subject to approach. You want to be sensitive to their age, while also presenting the facts as truthfully as possible. With a subject like September 11th, how do you do that in a way that is appropriate for fifth grade children? The answer: book studies!
Books have a way of taking you to different times and places without ever having to leave the classroom.
As an adult, I remember September 11th like it was yesterday. I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard about the towers being attacked. My fifth graders do not have that. As hard as it is for me to imagine, I teach students who were born after that terrible event. As history students of this great country they need to learn about that event. While students cannot rely on their own experience of this event, they can live it through a set of child's eyes in the book, "I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001."
Through DonorsChoose.org, I hope to get a copy of this book into the hands of every student. That way we can engage in an interactive read aloud to not only help them discover another level of love for reading but also to discuss and explore the historical facts surrounding this novel. This novel will serve as an integrated unit, helping students meet their reading goals and social studies goals simultaneously.
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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. Thompson and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
