Support Our First Grade Critical Champions Strengthen Their Personal Literacy
My students need literacy resources that support them in the joyful and creative exploration of literacy: personal book bins and journals that allow them to communicate personal learning and goals with the teacher.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Kim's classroom raised $931
This project is fully funded
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.
My Students
We cannot begin to strive for equitable access to education without holding a conversation about a common lack of access to materials, tools, and technology for many students. We need to take into account the tangible aspects of a classroom. At 5 or 6 years old, the students in my classroom enter the year already having experienced a shuffling of resources, lack of supplies such as crayons and inconsistency in staffing.
No matter the struggle, the students in my classroom arrive each day with a passion and curiosity for learning.
These students deserve to not only have their voices acknowledged in a powerful way but to find confidence in their own voices.
REACH itself is a turnaround school; 90% of our student population receives free or reduced-price lunch, 70% of our students are classified as English Language Learners, and much of our student population enters school having experienced various levels of trauma. Here at REACH, the continuous work is about reshaping the way in which they approach education and our community in order to best support student and community growth.
My Project
The book bins are important for our students as this allows them agency in taking personal ownership of their reading in the class. These bins are a small way in which students invest in their reading: the choices they make in the classroom library and in what they get to share with their classmates. This sharing process is what helps excite them most about their reading, which is physically anchored by these book bins.
The primary journals also make an extreme difference in the classroom.
These primary journals allow for my students and I to not only communicate with one another in a more casual, and much more personal, manner but also to practice literacy skills with less pressure. For my students (65% of whom classify as English Learners and 75% of whom test under grade level in reading and writing), personal communication journals that are shared and written in by the student and the teacher have provided students with an avenue that does not involve judgement. In this manner, students have been able to connect more with their class and myself, as the teacher, and primarily subconsciously, students are able to practice literacy without the pressure of academic goals and achievements.
Finally, both the Big Book Storytelling Activity Kits and the Sight-Word Puzzles are important for my students to find and feel the joy of learning and practicing literacy skills. Often, especially with our younger students, they are most able to learn when they are also having fun and able to be creative. I find it important to provide students this access to "different" ways of learning that they may not have initially considered as learning before. This I truly believe especially for my students who are below grade level and (I believe, all my students at this age) English Language Learners.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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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. Kim and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
