This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
Over 95% of our students qualify for free or reduced breakfast and lunch. Our school, originally built for 600 K-8 students, now houses over 900 students - 56 of whom have autism! They come from a range of countries across the world and many faces struggle no one should ever have to face. I teach 10 students with autism who hail from across the city. They are bright and work so hard to learn, grow, and better the world around them. My students thrive on their daily class and community routine, sharing laughs and working through endless challenges to relate to a world that has trouble understanding their needs. In spite of all this, students in our substantially separate class have access to an education that includes field trips to the community, to work on generalizing their skills, numerous vocational opportunities and fun!
My Project
Why do middle school students need picture books? The students in my classroom have autism - we are always working to improve our social skills and relationships with others. These skills are something we practice daily, and this year we have LOVED our new morning meeting together! We use our daily morning meeting routine to do 4 things: greet each other, answer a question of the day, get excited about "Mrs. Lynch's choice" and read a morning message together.
This year, my students have absolutely LOVED reading new social skills related books during "Mrs. Lynch's choice" during morning meeting!
We are excited to continue to use our morning meeting to help us continue to improve our social skills, build relationships with our peers and continue to develop a love of reading. This project is requesting a variety of books that will help us continue to better understand social skills, like friendship and empathy, as well as fun books that make us laugh when we are having tough days.
My students love stories, but most are unable to enjoy them without the help of an adult. We love our weekly reading group of more age-appropriate chapter books to improve our comprehension but are hoping to expand our repertoire of books to include fun, engaging picture books that we can all enjoy together. We are excited to continue to learn with new books!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Lynch and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
