My school is a Title I school that serves approximately 400 students in grades 6-8. Nearly all of my students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and some have no permanent home. Despite this, my students work extremely hard to overcome the many obstacles that they face on a daily basis
One of the best parts about my school is that we have such a diverse background of students.
Many may not come from prosperous backgrounds, but they soak up every opportunity they have to learn, and this project will help support literacy in our community through a Little Free Library that will provide books for all ages, languages, and backgrounds.
My Project
Children in families with incomes below the poverty line are less likely to be read to aloud every day than are children in families with incomes at or above poverty. Unfortunately, most of my students fall into this category. Many of them did not have the love of reading nurtured into them at a young age. Because of this, my school struggles with getting our reluctant readers into reading. The most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase their access to print in school and at home. The problem that we face in my area is that studies have shown that 61 percent of low-income households have no books in their home for children to get access to and many do not have the means to get to the public library.
This project will improve our community by providing easy access to books through a Little Free Library that will be placed out in front of our school.
This will allow for more parent engagement and community involvement when it comes to literacy by providing them with the proper tools they need to help nurture the love of reading from infancy to well into the adult years. Our community members will also be able to have access to books that reflect the diverse and rich cultures in our community in order to promote awareness and unity within our area.
Unfortunately, statistics show that a vast majority of students who start out behind, stay behind, and many of that drop-out. I don't want my students to be part of that large statistic. It takes just one book to change a child's life. Help make that change in not just my students' lives, but the lives of the people in our community through this Little Free Library.
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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. Gamble and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
