My school is in its 23rd year of existence. It is one of the county's largest middle schools and serves students in grades sixth through eighth. Our families have a broad range of income levels. Some families receive state assisted living funds while others may have a six-figure income. Our current enrollment has approximately 930 students with 50% males and 50% females and offers a variety of services to meet the needs of a diverse population. Sixty-seven percent of students are economically disadvantaged. With these challenges in place, our attendance rate is high at 95%.
Our media center is the heart of our school.
We have students use the media center for checking out books, reading, computer work, test-taking, meetings, news broadcast, etc. We are always looking for ways to keep updated on items that our students would enjoy. We have students that fit into both ends of the spectrum from high readers to low readers. We need ways to keep them interested in reading so that they may know what it is to be a lifelong reader.
My Project
Every year thousands of students pick up a Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Book to start on a journey of not only enjoying award-winning books by fantastic authors, but to arm themselves with knowledge for an upcoming reading competition.
We need these books specifically for the 2020-2021 Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl;however, once the reading bowl is over these books, which are award-winning pieces of literature, will be accessible to all of our students.
Every year I take the books and put them in a glass display. The reading bowl students check them out, and they are responsible for knowing that book from cover to cover. All of our students see the books on display, and are so eager to access them. Some students even say, "Mrs. B, are these the new reading bowl books?" I say yes, and they automatically go for them.
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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 Mrs. Brewer and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
