This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
To see how reading opens up new worlds, students first need books in their world. I am a fifth grade language arts teacher. I teach at a high need charter school that serves children in grades five through twelve. We are a college-oriented family here, and strive to reach high expectations for our students from the moment they enter our doors. For the past three years, one hundred percent of our high school seniors have been accepted into college before graduating from our school.
To build our students towards college-readiness as early as possible, our school has recently become involved with Columbia University’s Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project. At the start of the year, I—along with my colleagues—dedicated significant time towards determining the reading levels of each one of our students. Our goal is to match students to books of their choice at their individual reading level. Ultimately, I hope to push students to achieve at least two years of reading growth this year. However, in order to accomplish this end, my students need a library equipped to serve their needs. Since I (as a fifth grade teacher) have students arriving at my door from all educational backgrounds, many of my students read far below grade-level. As a result, at this time my classroom library contains very few books that do so. In fact, we have very few books that the majority of my students are able to read.
My ultimate goal is to build a library sufficient to allow students to choose books for both in school and at home reading time, that meet their reading needs on an individual basis. The element of student choice in books is imperative to my classroom. Therefore, I need to provide a significant number of books at various levels and in various genres for my students to choose from.
You can make the difference for my students by helping me purchase the beginnings of a leveled library set. I have purchased many books for my students, but I do not have the personal resources to fund an entire library. My students need books now. In fact, they're craving high interest books that they can actually access. My children ask daily for new titles, and love reading time. It's up to us to continue to foster this love of literacy and learning. We need to provide them with the necessary resources to further their growth as readers and scholars, and to set them on the path for success in college and beyond. Please help fund this effort. Together, we can show students that there is a big world out there, and that it's within their grasp.
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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. M. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.