I've just completed my first year teaching in an urban, 2nd grade, high-need, dual immersion (English - Spanish) classroom.
In 2nd grade at our school, classroom instruction occurs entirely in Spanish, with the exception of a 20-minute block of English time when the teacher reads the class a book in English. The rest of the school day is spent speaking, learning, and reading in Spanish. The problem is that my classroom contains no books in Spanish for students to read independently. The school, which is facing economic hardships, cannot purchase books for my classroom and I, as my first year in this Spanish-dominant setting, have not accumulated enough books in Spanish to provide my students even close to the number of books that they need and deserve. Developing strong literacy skills early on is necessary for academic success. My students need to practice their literacy skills every chance they can. They are required to read independently in Spanish both at school and at home. However, many of my students do not have books at home and currently we have not books in Spanish in the classroom.
How can I require my students to read in Spanish, yet cannot provide them the materials they need to do it? How can my students improve their literacy skills if their teacher doesn't have books with which they can practice?
With your help, my students can receive the much needed single copies of many different titles so that they can enjoy independent reading time both at school and at home. We will store some of the books in the classroom so students have access to them during the day. Then, a few of the books will then go home with certain students on a rotating basis so that they will have the resources they needed to continue improving their literacy skills at home as well.
At 7 and 8 years old my students are still excited and energetic learners. If I can't provide them the materials they need to continue feeding their curiosity and excitement, I fear their love for learning will slowly diminish and they will become disengaged in the classroom. You can help keep my students engaged, eager, and positive about making academic progress simply by providing a very basic classroom need: books in Spanish.
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