My students need easy access to books at their groups. I have a classroom library, but I want more books at their fingertips by putting bookshelves at each group.
Books can take my students on so many different adventures. My students come from various socioeconomic backgrounds and have a wide range of ability levels. We are a Title 1 school with over 40% of our students receiving free or reduced lunches. Our ESOL students are on the rise, and because of this and other factors, I have a wide range of ability levels.
In my class, I have students coming to me on a kindergarten reading level to students that can read and comprehend at a 5th grade level or higher!
It's no longer just teaching 2nd grade for me, so I am always searching for activities that cover a range of ability levels.
My goal is to be able to have book more accessible to students by having a selection at each group for them to select from, along with their "good fit" books they have selected from my classroom library.
My Project
Reading is one of the most fundamental needs of every student, especially my ESOL and Special Education students. Reading is what opens up their minds to discover places they don't get to go to and experience things that are not a part of their every day lives.
Becoming a better reader opens up so many important avenues in a child's life.
It helps them become a better writer, helps them become interested in different things and topics, that in turn helps them in their decisions of what they want to do when they grow up.
I want to make books in my classroom more accessible to students on a daily basis. Reading is so important for students, but sometime the process to select books takes away from the precious time we have in class to read. While students are selecting books to read, I am usually working with a small group of students. Due to that I am unable to monitor the progress they are making on selecting books. Many times students will waste a large amount of time repeatedly going back for different books, and end up loosing reading time.
I want students to select books once a week, but I also want to have a selection added to their choices at their groups. This way they can quickly pick what they want to read from a smaller selection and therefor get started on their reading journey faster.
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