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Mrs. Martinez from Oxnard CA is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

The Gift of Literacy

My students need the book, The People of Sparks, the sequel to The City of Ember which we read together.

  • $535 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate 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

Middle School can be an exciting yet overwhelming time for 6th graders. They are trying to figure out who they are in a sea of trends and pressures. Many of our students come from low socio-economic, multi-generational, split, and/or Spanish-only households. Many have the drive but not the means to obtain the materials necessary for their education, especially literature.

All students deserve a fighting chance when it comes to literacy.

Our school library does a good job staying abreast of current popular literature, but having to serve nearly 800 students, there's a good chance that the books students really want to read are not available.

Many of my 6th grade students come into Middle School reading below grade level. The average reading level in my core classes this year is 4th grade. This is a critical time to provide explicit reading instruction before they head off to High School, but many students have already lost interest in independent reading.

As a teacher, there is nothing better than to experience highly engaged, motivated students who find something worthy of their time and effort to read, and enjoy, independently!

My Project

I have had quite the squirrelly bunch of 6th graders this year and have found it challenging to engage them all at the same time. I was nervous to start a class novel after state testing, but really wanted to round out our year with the book, The City of Ember. The story really connected to everything we emphasized in Social Studies (the development of civilizations, the importance of water for survival and life) this year and was just a good story!

I was astounded at the student interest and engagement when reading this book!

Not only were they all on the edge of their seats at the end of each chapter, but they often begged me to continue reading. Their predictions and excited banter about the book was music to this teacher's ears!

The very end of the story gives a preview chapter of the next book, The People of Sparks. I made them wait to read it until they finished an activity about the end of the story -- but they were so eager! We finished The City of Ember yesterday, June 1. Even though we only have a couple weeks left of school, the idea came to me that I would love to gift each of them the 2nd book in the series as a fun summer read and a memento from our year. Many of my students don't own books of their own, so I think it would be an especially special gift for them.

Mrs. Martinez
Grades 6-8

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Where Your Donation Goes

Materials Cost Quantity Total
The People of Sparks (The City of Ember) • Amazon Business $6.39 60 $383.40

Materials cost

$383.40

Vendor shipping charges

FREE

Sales tax

$35.08

3rd party payment processing fee

$5.75

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$454.23

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$80.16

Total project goal

$534.39

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

$534.39

9 Donors

-$473.33

Donations toward project cost

-$403.23

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$70.10

match offer

-$60.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$51.00

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$9.00

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$1.06

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

$0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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Project Activity

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