Our poor books are crying out for relief! They are becoming increasingly fragile, and desire to be handled in a kinder and more gentle way!
My students attend a Title I school that has approximately 90% free and reduced lunch.
The school is quite racially diverse with Hispanic and African Americans making up the majority of our students. In the current state of the economy, our parents struggle daily to meet the basic needs of their children. They want the best education for their children, but often are unable to assist their children at home due to time, fear of misleading their child, or because of negative educational experiences they had as a child. I find that many students lack experiential knowledge and know little about the world globally. Due to their lack of understanding about the way that the world works, I often find my students lack self-esteem which often leads to an unwillingness to take risks. However, I've found that our students are happiest when they can learn socially and communicate their understanding to their peers.
My Project
My students enjoy a variety of books in our classroom library, but time, and the use of plastic "book bags" for independent reading time have taken a toll on our texts! Our books cry out for a kinder and gentler way of handling them and we think these book boxes just might be a great solution!
These book boxes will allow the students to have plenty of room to house their "books of the week" without having to slide them into a plastic bag, risking further damage to our books! Each box will have an assigned spot on a shelf, which will also save time when students go to retrieve and return them.
Every minute we have in the classroom is valuable, so time savers and opportunities to build responsibility are precious.
With school budgets becoming increasingly tight, it is vital for classroom teachers to take care of the resources we currently have available.
I am fortunate to have a classroom library that is fairly well rounded, but I must ensure that my students can continue to enjoy these texts. I feel that by providing containers that are roomy and easy to use, it will encourage my students to be responsible in their handling of the books and be able to "pay it forward" for next year's students.
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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. Gumbrecht and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.