My students, or my babies, as I call them, are amazing kids. They read. A lot. My circulation is hovering around 20 books per student. The combination of high circulation numbers and middle school kids being middle school kids wreaks havoc upon the books.
Our school is urban, ~80% minority, Title 1, and CEP.
Title 1 means we have a high percentage of students from low-income families. And we are a Community Eligibility Provision School, which means so many of our students qualify for free lunch that the entire school automatically qualifies.
My Project
My babies are very hard on their library books. Books get thrown in backpacks, lockers, under beds, you name it. Very few books are turned in in the same condition they were checked out. I do my best to repair books with the few supplies I have. I need supplies like Vistafoil laminate vinyl book covering for paperback books and Kapco book glue so I can make my books last as long as possible. The Kapco label protectors are desperately needed because the labels on these well-loved books keep peeling off.
My county doesn't provide funding for book repairs.
I have to come up with creative ways to buy the basic book repair supplies that every school library needs so we can get the most out of our books. My students sometimes can't read the books they want because I have to pull them out of circulation until I can repair them. Have you ever had to tell a student they couldn't read a book they really want to read? It's heartbreaking.
I have a fairly high circulation rate and our paperback books have a hard time standing the test of time. Heck, even standing a two-week checkout. To save money on buying more books, we need these supplies to make what we already have last as long as they can.
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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. Sartain and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.