I teach in a 4th grade classroom where most of the students have special needs. The majority of my students are reading below grade level due to their disabilities. My school is a Title 1 High Poverty school where a great number of students are rarely exposed to literature and rich-texts inside the home. Being a new teacher in such a high poverty district, the majority of our classroom books are unwanted donations from other classrooms. These books are terribly worn and most are not high interest books for my students. My students NEED high quality, rich-texts on their level in order to succeed in reading this year. The books that are newer in my classroom are brighter and much more eye appealing, which I believe fosters a deep love and excitement for reading that old books just cannot do. The more high-interest texts donated to our classroom the better, yet at this point just a few new books would improve our classroom library a great deal.
Most of the students in my 1st grade classroom are from low-income homes.
They do not have access to rich texts at home. That is why it is so important for the students to be exposed to exciting books at school so that they can capture the love of reading that will stick with them for a lifetime.
My students are eager and excited to learn, who among them happen to have special needs. They are unfortunately, well aware of their limits and come from great poverty. Due to the lack of funding for our school, most of my students end up reading texts that are old, worn out, and unwanted donations from others. At such a young age, many of my students are already learning to dislike reading due to the poor quality of books in our classroom.
My Project
When organizing a classroom, new teachers need to focus on the classroom library. This is a vital part of the classroom where learning will take place each and every day. This is the place where teachers can pull out a book at a moment’s notice to highlight a topic or concept during a lesson and a place where students can go to indulge an interest in a new topic. Here are a few guidelines for building a good classroom library.
When setting up a classroom library, it is important to have below, at and above grade level books available for students to choose from. Given the mix of abilities in classrooms today, especially those in my inclusion classroom, teachers need to have a healthy mix of books for all students to be able to read.
When teaching in an inclusion classroom, teachers should include books that are several years below grade level available for students to choose from.
Likewise, in a gifted classroom, or if a gifted student is in a class, there should be books several years above grade level for students to choose from as well. My school district only gives me $60 a year for school supplies. Currently I have several 6th grade level books in my classroom that are way too high for my 3rd Graders.
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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. H. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.