It's GAME Time!!! (Shhh...They Don't Know They're Learning!)
My students need tools to assist reading comprehension including 6 different comprehension games and a set of comprehension mystery readers that can be used to remediate skills in small-group reading instruction.
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.
Greetings and Salutations! I am a second-year Teach for America Corp Member working in Houston, TX. I teach self-contained 3rd grade at a Title 1 elementary school in Alief ISD.
Problem 1: "This is stupid!" I look up from my small-group table to see where the comment originated, only to see one of my boys break his pencil in half and throw it on the floor. If you have taught before, you understand that it can be exceptionally hard to regulate classroom management while working with your small-groups. I can give students the "teacher-look" or I can threaten further consequence at the end of my group instruction, but the fact is, if students are not engaged in an engrossing activity while I'm with groups they are likely to be 1) not learning, and 2) causing distractions.
Problem 2: In Texas, 3rd graders are judged almost solely on their performance on the TAKS test (a standardized test). The test works heavily with non-fiction passages, and often my Title 1 kiddos are not ready for the exam, and I don't have the supplies to get them ready.
On a visit to an "exemplary school," I noticed that they take a very different approach to test preparation and classroom management during small-groups. The teacher I observed had tons of these colorful (engaging!) board games around her room. No one was repeating the scene in my room by breaking pencils or yelling out. These students were so excited about these reading comprehension games that they barely noticed they were being observed. Also, in small group, the students were using these cool magnifying glasses to analyze text details.
I was so excited after this visit, and I knew that I wanted to get my hands on these supplies as soon as possible. Yet, at my home campus, my specialists laughed at me when I showed them the "Lakeshore" catalog with the games and mystery readers. "That's an awesome resource," they said, "but we can't afford anything like that."
While it is true, my school can't afford these incredible tools used by more affluent schools like the one I visited; it doesn't change the fact that my students deserve the same supplies as their suburban counterparts. These tools would get my kids excited about learning, without them even knowing that they are learning. The tools would also help me remediate comprehension skills in my small groups, which would help get students ready for the TAKS test. It simply isn't fair that a student's reading comprehension level can be based upon the resources the district where he or she attends school can afford. Please help me break this cycle by helping my class gain these materials. Everything mentioned in the order will be shared with all of 3rd grade, roughly 160 kids. That means that 160 kids will be engaged during reading, learning, and getting ready for the big test. Thank you, and please help if you can!
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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. Milianta-Laffin and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
