It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader

My Students

My scholars are hungry to learn. They are incredibly bright, gifted, gritty kids, who need more non-fiction books to stretch their brains even further.

Last year, these scholars were the highest performing in reading, out of any open-enrollment school, in the city.

They are brilliant and are in need of a challenge. Our school serves low-income scholars and families, within our community, with the mission of sending 100% of our kids to and through college. Despite the challenges our scholars face, they approach learning, each day, with an unparalleled level of zest and grit, working tirelessly to achieve their goals. They are voracious readers, and this year, they will tackle the challenge of reading 2.024 million words, over the course of our time together. Poverty affects academics most acutely in reading ability, so we work tirelessly to close the literacy gap. Although my scholars read on average 8 months ahead of grade level, nearly 50% are behind where they need to be.

My Project

I am requesting popular, young adult non-fiction literature, to inspire our scholars to read a wide variety of texts. Although our kids are voracious readers, they primarily choose fiction for their independent reading texts. Unfortunately, the non-fiction section of our library is the smallest section, so scholars do not have many quality books to choose from. Getting these books, will give our kids access to rich, rigorous non-fiction texts, that can help foster their love of reading. Often times, scholars ability to read non-fiction, is much lower than that of their ability to read fiction, so it is critical that we get them as much exposure as possible, to these texts, to make sure they are strong readers in all subjects. When our scholars go to college and get jobs, they will need to be proficient in reading non-fiction literature. By setting them up with quality texts, in middle school, we are ensuring success for them, years down the road.

Getting scholars to read non-fiction can open up worlds for them that they never dreamed possible.

Not only will it help grow their reading ability, but it will also show them the power reading non-fiction has, because it gives them access to information about anything they want to know. Each time a scholar receives a book from Donorschoose, they are reminded that there are people rooting for them, all over the world. It takes a village to raise a reader. We need your help to get quality books.