"Good readers sound like human beings when they read, not like robots." My students repeat this sentence to each other over and over as they work to increase their fluency, to read faster and with more expression in their voices.
My twenty students attend the only public elementary school in our small Arkansas town.
They call themselves the Class of 2023, as that is the year they will graduate from four-year colleges and universities, and they can often be heard chanting, "We're the Class of 2023, working hard is what we'll be, getting smarter, growing our brains, reach our Big Goals, make big gains!"
Over half of them scored Below Basic on the state standardized test last year, and yet they have such huge potential for growth if they can learn to truly fall in love with reading. They frequently check out picture books from the school library on deer hunting, duck hunting, tractor pulls, and dirt bikes, but they shy away from more difficult chapter books by Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, Beverly Cleary, and the like.
My Project
These chapter books, with accompanying audio CDs, will enable my students to experience incredible classic children's literature which has, until now, been off limits to them due to their limited reading abilities. Hearing fluent adults read these texts on CD will increase my students' fluency, and as elementary-level fluency is one of the best known predictors of graduation rates and college attendance, it will help them succeed both this year and later in life!
Your donation will open my students' eyes to a world they've never been able to access before.
With your help, my students will listen to chapter books on audio CD now, increase their fluency dramatically, and be able to read those books themselves by the end of the year! On behalf of the Class of 2023, climbing the mountain to college, THANK YOU!
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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. McCollester and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.