My students need "The Secret Subway," "Who Was Maya Angelou?" and "Separate Is Never Equal" to not only add to our class library but also to allow me to continue to read aloud to my students.
$247 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! 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.
The students I teach serve as an inspiration to me every day. They are so determined and focused to make their dreams come true. Often, our superintendent says that “demographics don’t determine destiny” and it is something that I STRONGLY believe in. Our school is a Title I school where approximately 78% of students are classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged, over 94% of the students here are minorities with Latinos making up the majority at 90%, and yet they still succeed here academically and go on to four year universities right after graduation. We strive, as their teachers, to make the curriculum not only relevant but challenging in order to help prepare them for the challenges that college will bring.
They participate in sports and volunteer in our community on top of taking multiple honors and AP classes.
They are highly involved in the many clubs we have here on campus either by participating or holding leadership roles in them. There are a lot of other programs that are in need of money and since the school budget is limited often things that the students truly need to be life-long learners are underfunded or not funded at all.
My Project
I have been steadily building my classroom library and have been reading aloud to my students every year for the past 6 years. Read-alouds happen to be one of the biggest and most lasting impressions on my students here at Santa Fe. Multiple times I have had kids come back years later or after graduation and tell me about the how those books still stay with them. Considering I am a science teacher and also teach high school I am one of a very few in this field that do what I do. I like to read one novel a year and multiple picture books that are both informative and historical. Since my students come from diverse backgrounds and different reading levels this allows me to expose them to multiple subjects not just the one I teach them.
Since I am often limited on time with reading aloud, picture books make a great addition even to teenagers.
People have questioned how teenagers would react to being read aloud to, let alone a picture book. My response is "They are all ears and they often clap at the end of the story." Since the human brain is wired to learn through story they often remember in great detail the stories I have read from many months prior. I have picked these books in hopes to help build their background knowledge, build their vocabulary, inspire them to read on their own, and instill a love of reading for a lifetime.
Please join me on my journey to help my students become lifelong readers.
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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. Connolly and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
