This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
For the past nine years I have been teaching Kindergarten in an inner-city school district. It is one of several Abbott District schools within the state. The community of families is predominately Hispanic, with many non-English speaking parents.
There are many obstacles that the children in my class face with non-English speaking parents. One of the many lacking, yet vital parts ,of their home life is reading. Adults do not understand the English language to read a book and, in addition, many households do not have any books to read, either in English or Spanish. The parents are unaware of the importance for reading to their young children. How can these children become readers with no role models to follow?
I will be that role model to these emergent readers. As a classroom teacher of five and six year old students, I find time each and every day to read at least two stories to the children. Some of the times the books are related to the curriculum, but more often the books are related to the thematic unit we are working on at any given time. In the fall, we usually learn about pumpkins and spiders. The winter brings stories and activities about the gingerbread man. Then spring rolls around and we learn about new life through chicks and caterpillars.
You can never have enough stories on a particular topic to read to the children. I love reading a story and changing my voice to each character, or whispering at the quiet moments, or screaming at the loud parts. The children love the adaptations which bring the story to life. We enjoy comparing stories to each other. We vote on our favorites. Books are an extremely vital part of our classroom experience, and a few more books would definitely add to our pleasure and appreciation for the written words of an author.
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. PETRILLO and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
