I teach 28 4th graders daily in a large metro Atlanta school system. They are a mix of nationalities and a mix of socioeconomic levels. They are a mix of academic levels. One thing is certain though- they come together daily as a classroom family, ready to learn!
Research shows that the more contact children have with books, the better readers they become.
Did you know that children learn an average of 4,000-12,000 new vocabulary words each year as a result of book reading? Research also shows that the highest achievers in classrooms are likely to read over 200 times as many minutes per day (21 minutes) as the lowest achievers. My students come to me every day ready to learn,...they are hard-working and committed to doing their very best. I want to provide them with a classroom library that supports their growth in literacy.
My students need a classroom library stocked with a variety of books that will expose them to traditional stories, fantasy, realistic fiction, historical fiction, biographies, poetry, and information.
My Project
Research shows that classroom libraries help students attain reading achievement. Effective reading teachers incorporate a diverse group of genres, authors, and topics into their libraries. While the best predictor of reading success is the amount of time spent reading, reading achievement is also influenced by the frequency, amount, and diversity of reading activities.
By providing access to a rich classroom library, I hope to promote greater amounts of reading, increased reading frequency, and more diverse reading experiences among my students, thus helping them to attain greater levels of reading achievement.
Building my classroom library would allow me to provide my students with multiple opportunities to respond to their reading and interact with their peers through a variety of activities such as book clubs and discussions.
The goal of my classroom library is to support reading and writing instruction — in school and out. To this end, I aim to outfit my classroom library with books to support student learning in all of the daily curriculum subjects. I intend to include materials related to science, health, mathematics, history, economics, geography, music, art, drama, dance, languages, grammar, spelling, literature, computers, and other topics. I hope to build an adequate collection of fiction and nonfiction materials at enough different levels to accommodate the many interests and abilities of my students.
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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 Mrs. G. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.