My students want to learn to read or improve their reading, but they need to first unlock the "Keys to Reading". I teach struggling readers in a small rural school in North Carolina. My students are identified as at-risk readers in the bottom 25% of their class. They range in grades from K-8 and struggle with decoding, comprehension, and rapid automatic naming of high-frequency words. A systematic approach that allows them to make small steps and monitor their own progress will provide them the keys they need to become life-long lovers of reading!!
My reading classroom is stocked with trade books, decodable readers, magazines, and many other wonderful reading materials to help my students become better readers. However, we lack the "consumable" supplies such as index cards and markers needed to make individualized "Keys to Reading" word rings. Their keyrings will provide a fun and motivating way for learning high-frequency and content-related words encountered in their daily reading. My students are hungry to expand their reading vocabulary, and need your help to get there!
A supply of bright index cards, loose-leaf rings, colorful markers, stickers and sticker charts are all that stand in the way of my students making their own "Keys to Reading" keyrings. After obtaining these supplies, each student will be able to make their own word rings containing words they wish to add to their "reading vocabulary." As students learn the words on their keyring, they will place a sticker on the card. When the card is full of stickers, the student may take the card off the ring and proudly declare that they "own" that word! Learned words will be removed and new words will be added as the learning continues!! Small incentive sticker charts will be used to show all the "owned" words!! This will greatly benefit my students as they begin to expand their reading vocabulary and learn to monitor their own progress. Not only will it improve reading and decoding skills, but also increase motivation for continued learning as they see their word banks increase!
I invite you to be a part of helping my students unlock the essential keys to reading. With your generous gift, each of my students will have their own "keyring" with their name printed in bold color on the first card. As they daily work through their rings, they will feel success as they begin to place stickers on known words. They will also feel motivated to learn unknown words in order to add stickers to their unmarked "keys." The practice my students gain from working with their word rings, along with the direct instruction and guided reading I provide will work together to turn my struggling readers into soaring readers!
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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 Ms. Cleven and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.