Support a Summer Reading Challenge for English Language Learners
Help me give my students rewards for engaging with our summer reading project. Students picked the prizes they were most excited about, including a Chromebook to help them with schoolwork!
I teach English language development to an amazing group of students who speak other languages, including many refugee and immigrant students. Many of them had severely interrupted schooling before they got here, so they are not only learning English and all of their school subjects in English, but they are also learning all other academic skills and subjects. They are eager to learn and deeply appreciative of the opportunities they have here at our school. My goal is to provide them with every opportunity and resource that they need to be successful in school, and in life.
My Project
For English Language Learners, summer is a crucial time to support continued language learning. Students have made huge gains over the year and it's important that their growth continues over the break. Reading during the summer is a great way to continue practicing language skills and keep brains active.
When designing a summer reading project for my students, I aimed to create something motivating and fun.
I want my students to find their own love of reading; it should be joyful, rather than a chore. So I asked my students what would get them excited and they helped design this challenge. As a motivator, students were interested in technology that they don't have access to at home, including computers and headphones. We agreed that the three students who read the most books over the summer will have their choice at the top three prizes. I also wanted to make sure that ALL students are rewarded for their efforts, even if they read less. So any student that reads even just one book will get a small prize (students chose spicy chips as their first choice)!
Additionally, I promised my students that I would also be reading over the summer. In fact, I told them I will read each book that they read so that we can talk about them in the fall! I'm hoping that they will keep me busy. The more books, the better!
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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. Bovee and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
