The cost of 4 sets of 6 Readers Theater books from Really Good Stuff/Filmic Archives, including titles such as A 100th Day of School Mystery, Gingerbread Man, and Stone Soup, is $317, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
How do you get students to read? How do you teach them fluency? For my class of 24 second grade students I accidentally found the answer through Readers Theater. My students were learning about Johnny Appleseed and there was a play in their reading books about his life. What started as a weekly reading assignment and small group projects became a production at my students request. Before they were finished we presented the play to our parents including handwritten invitations, a few props, and refreshments after. I have never seen students get so excited and involved in what began as a class assignment.
We had over 34 parents, grandparents, and other family members attend our play that was given during the school day. I am sorry to say that at our school that was the most parent attendance I have ever seen for a class project. If something so simple can generate that kind of participation from not only my students, but also parents I want to do it again and again.
What I need is Readers Theater books, fiction and nonfiction. Due to budget costs we are very limited in the number of copies that we are allowed to make in a year which makes it difficult to have class sets of plays. I currently have 24 students which would generate into a massive amount of copies or the cost of purchasing the materials would be more than I could afford on my own.
I teach second grade, all subjects, at a small Title 1 community school where a huge percentage of our students come from economically depressed home situations. For their families survival is a priority. I am constantly looking for anything that will get my students excited about reading and Readers Theater seems to be the answer. I want to continue seeing them get involved, excited, and reaching to be stars.
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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. Sarmento and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.