"Books are uniquely portable magic." ~Stephen King
Books help students learn about distant places, transport them to another world and quite literally allow students to become prepared for their future lives. In today's classroom of diverse learners, we need to provide accessible-leveled books.
Our fifth class is full of energetic, curious, eager, and diverse students.
Our Title I School is well known in the area for providing resources and enrichment to all needs such as very high achieving academics, English Language Learners, Title I supported kids and Special Education students. Fifth graders are coming to the middle school for the first time. They are juggling how to complete their academics and negotiate middle school life.
Many of my students are struggling readers, who become frustrated by reading and by lacking comprehending the text. I also realize that with this generation of learners, engagement is key to hold student attention and generate interest. Although my students do have iPods and they are an awesome tool to help with education and kids love to use them, they are too small to read books on. Therefore, I need to get "just right" books to fit the needs of individual students so they become excited about reading.
My Project
Although there is a school library, each fifth-grade teacher supports her own library in the classroom. Many of us have built our own libraries piecemeal a book at a time. It would be unthinkable, unless we had financial support, to enhance our libraries with a leveled reading set. A leveled reading set will allow students to have access to books in our classroom library and will also give the student the opportunity to develop essential skills at his/her own pace. By reviewing student reading assessments, I will be able to match that student with books that are challenging enough to make progress, but also not so hard where they will become frustrated.
In addition, this particular set of books contains readers that are super engaging novels and stories that captivate readers and motivates them to continue to read. The books are carefully selected according to subject, structure and vocabulary making it easy for the teacher to differentiate instruction.
My goal in reading for students is that they enjoy reading, are proficient at it, and become lifelong readers.
Moreover, being a proficient reader is essential for their future schooling, and eventually when they go into the workforce. Thus, donations to this project will raise the bar and the level of reading to make my students' lives more successful. Reading is tied to all other subjects too: math, science, social studies, etc. Success in reading is success in everything!
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. Philips Brown and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.