"Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story."
I've been teaching for 14 years, and my goal every year is to help my students know that they matter.
My first grade students attend an Ohio public school district that prides itself in its diversity and cultural make-up. With that brings varying socioeconomic statuses, family dynamics, educational backgrounds, and life experiences. A majority of the students in my school receive free- or reduced-priced lunch. Many of my first graders have been through more life struggles than the average adult. Even with those struggles, they endure. They walk in the door with big smiles. They love giving and receiving hugs. They are eager to learn. They know school is a safe place.
Our school values families, students and staff working together to create a positive, safe environment where children can learn and grow. I am happy to provide a healthy, loving, and caring classroom environment for my kiddos.
My Project
Shared reading is one component of our daily reading workshop. It is an interactive reading experience between the teacher and students, where the students have the opportunity to join in and share in reading a text together with teacher guidance. Using leveled texts, it allows teachers the flexibility to work just above students' independent reading levels. The benefits of shared reading are that teachers can model and students can practice decoding, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and reading strategies that students can take back with them when they go to read independently in their own books.
I want to inspire my students to love reading, and shared reading provides students with a scaffold and tools they can use to become successful readers, no matter what type of text they read.
The 1st grade Shared Reading Shelf includes fiction and nonfiction texts that my students will want to read over and over again. We read one shared text multiple times a week. Throughout the week, the teacher's role gradually changes from offering a good amount of support (meaning, decoding, reading strategies) to becoming a facilitator while working on comprehension and written responses with students. These books will be available for students to read during buddy reading as well as independent reading time, too. Their excitement to read the books again and again will be quite noticeable!
Through your donations and support, my students will have access to leveled text sets to use as a support in becoming lifelong readers. With many students having limited access to books outside of school, these books will support many students over the next several years!
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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. Meyer and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
