The cost of 50 Webster's School Thesauruses from Highsmith Inc. is $1002, 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>.
As a language arts teacher of grades four and five, I am dedicated to enabling my students to progress in their growth in reading and writing. Our state mandates all fourth graders to write to a given prompt in imaginative or personal narratives and the papers are scored rigidly by an established rubric. In addition, all students in grades 3-8 take a state End-of-Grade Reading Test in May.
Since our small community school is a Title I school with 91% of the students on free/reduced lunch and 41% residing in single parent or guardian homes, we are indeed needy. Most homes have few or no books or newspapers, so literacy is not emphasized. Therefore, building vocabulary is a major responsibility for me as their teacher. To accomplish this I need two class sets of thesauruses to enable the students to become proficient in vocabulary. Putting a thesaurus in each student's hands will assist us in the following activities:
1. Providing relays/games at first to familiarize students with the book's contents and the most efficient ways to utilize the reference source
2. Guiding students in the selection of appropriate words to convey their thoughts while writing narratives
3. Locating effective synonyms and antonyms
4. Assisting students with finalizing drafts of stories and refining words, thoughts and phrases to better address identified audiences
5. Teaching students to analyze reading selections and to consult the thesaurus to determine unknown words in the context and thereby, expand their word knowledge
6. Assisting students with keeping a list/log of new words successfully used in their writing notebooks for future references
7. Guiding students in keeping reflection journals when writing about reading and integrating vocabulary from the thesaurus
Through these types of activities, I anaticipate that my students will benefit immensely from daily use of the thesauruses and the results will be evident in their written stories and their knowledge of vocabulary on local and state assessments.
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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. B. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.