Lively, energetic, enthusiastic, messy, excited, and amazing are just a few words to describe the 24 students that I have the privilege to work with this year. We are a kindergarten class (hence the word messy) in a Healthy Living Charter School. The school (and myself) are committed to a child-centered environment where students are emotionally secure, physically active and nutritionally aware ensuring high academic achievement. We are diverse school with 62% of our students low income and 39% of our students are at risk. Due to the commitment of our teachers last year we lowered our percentage of students reading below grade level by almost 20%. We started the year with 57% of our students reading below grade level and due to the dedication to students, classroom libraries, and exposure to literature it was only 38% at the end of the year. This year we would like it to decrease even more.
Literacy is a huge part of what we do in kindergarten. My students especially need exposure because many do not have the resources at home.
I allow my students to self select books. This allows them to discover new interests, learn more about a specific topic, hunt down every book by their favorite author, and gives them ownership of their reading. After selection we sit to read them and very often they don't finish their book, want to write about it later, or loved it so much that they insist to keep it for themselves (I try to encourage them to recommend it to a friend!) Currently there is no storage system for our self selected books. They pick the books then have to return them to their homes or pile them into their chair packs where they quickly become buried or destroyed by other objects.
If each child in my classroom had an individual book bin they would be able to keep the books they love in an easy to reach place. We need a class set of book bins to store our books.
Many things will happen when they have their own special place to store books. The accountability and ownership of their reading will increase. Think about all the special places that you have to store special things...now imagine having those places as a 5 year old. Students will take better care of our classroom library. This is the only classroom library that my classroom will get and needs to serve the future classes as well as the current. And it will increase the interest in books. They will be able to hold on to them for longer and turn them into examples for writing pieces, reflect on them in journals, or even write their own book in a similar style.
My students need all the exposure to literature that I can give them. Very few of them have books to read at home. When they find a book they love they light up and reading takes on a whole new meaning. This your chance to help my students keep a collection of books they love in a place that is individual and special to them. It is your chance to encourage a budding reader and writer. It is your chance to empower a 5 year old to take on ownership in their learning. It is your chance to help.
I am excited to see the benefits of a class set of book bins.
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. Kimme and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.