My students need audio books to use with our listening center to improve our reading comprehension and fluency and 60 hang-up bags and 3 racks to store the books and CDs.
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.
My Students
Each morning students reflect on their hopes and dreams for the school year in morning meeting. Many students write about wanting to become better readers. Using our class values of cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self control, I hope to see their hopes and dreams come true.
I teach second grade at a high needs school in Chicago.
My school is unique in that it practices responsible inclusion of students with special needs such as autism and developmental delays. As a result, 25% of my students receive special education services and 85% of my students are considered to be low income. Already in second grade, many of the students are reading below grade level. This makes it a challenge to find material that is both engaging and at my students' reading levels within our school and the curriculum that is provided to us.
In addition, my students often complain that the stories that come with the curriculum are not "real stories." In my classroom I strive to pass on my love of reading to my students. One way I would like to do this is by providing students with the opportunity to access books that are interesting to them and that they see as meaningful to read.
My Project
Every day, I read out loud to my class in order to provide my students with access to reading materials that are on grade level but above many of their independent reading levels. While my students struggle to read grade level material fluently, they are able to pick up grade level reading concepts and participate in discussions about the books they are listening to. The challenge for my students comes during independent reading time when I am working with small groups and they are striving to practice the new skills that they learned independently.
Using a listening center and books on CDs, my students are able to independently practice grade level reading skills they are learning without getting stuck on the words. As a result, they are more engaged in their reading activities that are related to the books. They also benefit from following hearing the appropriate reading pace being modeled on the CDs as they follow along.
Currently, we have read and reread all of the books on CDs that we have in our classroom.
My students are constantly asking for new titles to be added to our collection as listening center is their favorite center. Adding books will give them a chance to be exposed to many more titles and adventures then they otherwise wouldn't have access to resulting in an increased passion for reading. In addition, they will gain insight into skills at their grade level and become more fluent readers.
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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. Birnbaum and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
