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Ms. Pietruszka from Madison WI is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

Read Alouds For Reading Excellence!

My students need new read aloud books to promote kindness as well as display diversity to develop a strong understanding of differences and acceptance.

  • $639 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Celebrate Black Teachers and Students

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

My students walk into our classroom every day full of life, ready to learn, and excited for what is in store for them that day. I ask them, "Who is the best 2nd graders in the whole world?" and they reply, "We are!" I want them to know I believe in them and they can do anything. My school is a 85% high poverty, Title One school with 75% diversity, mainly Afro-American. We are known to be the toughest in Madison and even with the given statistics, the teachers strive to be better to find ways to better educate our students. Our families have very little, so teachers have to try to make up for the deficiencies to excel our scholars to their highest extent of learning.

My Project

Read aloud books are shown to improve a students listening comprehension. These books also push kids to learn new skills and strategies to use in all other areas of school as well. Each of the books asked for in this project will be used to teach a reading comprehension skill. Compare and contrast, summarizing, self-questioning, predicting, main idea and details, relating prior knowledge are just a few of the skills that will be taught with these books. The biggest impact the students will receive through these lessons is about diversity. Learning about the backgrounds of the people around you makes one more tolerant and respectful towards others.

Themes that you may notice in all of these books is that they have authentic backgrounds of minority groups of people/things and also the importance of teaching kindness.

In our district, each classroom is becoming more and more diverse. Our students need to understand the differences of their classmates to make them more tolerant and respectful to the people and differences around them.

Ms. Pietruszka
Grades PreK-2

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TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation (Jane Addams Award Book (Awards)) • Amazon Business $17.06 1 $17.06
Be Kind • Amazon Business $15.13 1 $15.13
Jingle Dancer • Amazon Business $14.94 1 $14.94
Love • Amazon Business $14.76 1 $14.76
Let the Children March • Amazon Business $14.53 1 $14.53
Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship • Amazon Business $14.53 1 $14.53
Not Quite Narwhal • Amazon Business $14.53 1 $14.53
The Water Princess • Amazon Business $14.39 1 $14.39
Ricky, the Rock that Couldn't Roll • Amazon Business $14.20 1 $14.20
Escargot • Amazon Business $13.89 1 $13.89
What Do You Do With a Chance? • Amazon Business $13.53 1 $13.53
Every Color • Amazon Business $13.33 1 $13.33
Good People Everywhere • Amazon Business $13.22 1 $13.22
Quincy: The Chameleon Who Couldn't Blend In • Amazon Business $12.75 1 $12.75
The Word Collector • Amazon Business $12.66 1 $12.66
What Does It Mean to Be Kind? • Amazon Business $12.56 1 $12.56
She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World • Amazon Business $12.36 1 $12.36
I Walk with Vanessa: A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness • Amazon Business $12.32 1 $12.32
Heal the Earth (A Julian Lennon White Feather Flier Adventure) • Amazon Business $12.32 1 $12.32
The Big Umbrella • Amazon Business $12.14 1 $12.14
Nerdy Birdy Tweets • Amazon Business $11.98 1 $11.98
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors • Amazon Business $11.90 1 $11.90
The Bad Seed • Amazon Business $11.80 1 $11.80
Shapesville • Amazon Business $11.75 1 $11.75
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History • Amazon Business $11.68 1 $11.68
Beautiful Oops! • Amazon Business $11.61 1 $11.61
Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast • Amazon Business $11.51 1 $11.51
After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) • Amazon Business $11.37 1 $11.37
Lovely • Amazon Business $11.29 1 $11.29
Mary Had a Little Glam • Amazon Business $10.98 1 $10.98
Nerdy Birdy • Amazon Business $10.98 1 $10.98
Michael Recycle • Amazon Business $10.71 1 $10.71
Rock On, Kindness! Pass It On! • Amazon Business $9.99 1 $9.99
Do I Look Odd To You: A multicultural children's book about embracing diversity. • Amazon Business $9.95 1 $9.95
Ten Rules of Being a Superhero (Christy Ottaviano Books) • Amazon Business $9.44 1 $9.44
Unique and Wonderful: A Rhyming Picture Book for Children about Diversity that encourages Tolerance and discourages prejudice and racism • Amazon Business $9.13 1 $9.13
Hip Hop Dog • Amazon Business $8.98 1 $8.98
Bubble Gum Brain • Amazon Business $8.91 1 $8.91
SkySisters • Amazon Business $8.50 1 $8.50
Happy in Our Skin • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Grandmother's Dreamcatcher • Amazon Business $6.83 1 $6.83
The Jelly Donut Difference: Sharing Kindness with the World • Amazon Business $6.71 1 $6.71
The Invisible Boy • Amazon Business $6.40 1 $6.40

Materials cost

$505.54

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$7.58

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$543.12

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$95.84

Total project goal

$638.96

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $638.96

2 Donors

-$638.96

Donations toward project cost

-$543.12

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$95.84

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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. Pietruszka and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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