Struggling Readers Need More Books--SOS!!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

I am a fifth grade teacher of all subjects in Brooklyn, New York. The school in which I teach is a Title I school in a low socio-economic neighborhood. In our class of 28 students, there is a vast array of reading abilities. There are only three children who are reading at a fifth grade reading level. The students are heterogenously grouped and are at a range of levels beginning with a first grade reading ability. For these children reading is an ongoing battle. As you might imagine, reading instruction is very challenging for both the student and the teacher in this situation. We use a leveled library system in our school which means that the children choose books that are at their reading level during independent reading. Many of the children ask me regularly when we will be receiving other books that they can read independently. This is very frustrating for these children. I often send students down to a second or third grade classroom to borrow books but often they are ashamed and embarrased and refuse to borrow books from teachers they have had in the past who know them and know that they have reading disabilities. We received a mayor's library last year but the problem is most of the library is for higher level readers. Many of my students want to read these books but cannot comprehend the literature. What we really need are books at a lower readability level so the majority of the class have books that they can read fluently and with full comprehension. The books that I have researched and chosen are series books that are of high interest to the students such as "Frog and Toad" and the "Arthur" series. These books are very popular among children in elementary school. They have characters who face challenges and can often be realted to issues children face day to day. We have a 90-minute literacy block every day and the children get to read books independently that are at their level. These books would benefit these children greatly and help them to succeed and reach their full reading potential without the burden of visiting a second grade classroom. These resources will be used for years to come as well as this year. The books that we would like are available at Barnes and Noble. We would be extremely grateful if you would take our proposal into consideration!!!