Sophie and the Bookmobile: Reluctant Readers Learn to Love Reading!
Help me give my students the ability to improve their reading comprehension with an easy-to-read, high-quality piece of literature, Sophie and the Bookmobile, written by a hometown author.
Living in an economically depressed area with a high percentage of drug addiction and/or deaths can be hard for a child, especially if it involves a family member, a parent, a sibling, a cousin, or a beloved neighbor. My students, who face these problems daily, attend school with smiles on their faces and faith that the world will be okay for them. They discuss their evening, games at the local ballfields, bike rides through town, and what Tank, the local stray they love, did yesterday after school. They share their hopes and dreams; they have goals.
My students have struggled with academics, especially reading, during their school years, but they do not give up.
They recognize their struggle in reading, but they also recognize the importance of reading for understanding. They cheer successes, their own and others, and they use failures as an opportunity to learn. This optimism and belief in self will serve them well.
My students have something unusual for their age, clarity of what they need for success and HOPE! Their hope is a beacon that shines as they work daily in my classroom. They believe in themselves.
My Project
Sophie and the Bookmobile by Kathleen Jacobs allows students who struggle with reading to read an age-appropriate story that is written with vivid descriptiveness. The story contains the elements they are familiar with, a character like themselves, the setting is familiar, even nearby, and the hopes and dreams of a ten-year-old. They understand the plot because it could have happened to them!
Students who struggle with reading comprehension need special stories to read.
Jacobs's story of Sophie has a structure based upon techniques of basic text structures, uses vivid language to develop characters and makes them believable. Her story takes an ordinary girl who faces an ordinary issue, relocating to a new town and makes her a character to cheer for. Jacobs does this through the use of rich language through vivid detail.
In addition, my students will learn about a West Virginia author who lived in their hometown (in the same house as one of our students) and has shared experiences with them. They can recognize the ties that lie in having a good education that can lead them to attain a goal they truly want.
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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. Smith and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
