A typical day in my classroom consists of ELL students, grades 6-8, rotating through science, social studies, and math. Our day begins with a class discussion and review of their homework and a short read aloud. Class always ends with a new content area, reading assignment that is differentiated.
Do you remember traveling to a foreign country for the first time and the frustration you felt when you didn't understand the language?
My English language learners experience this feeling and countless others every day. Many suffer from PTSD and are two to three grade levels behind their peers. My students come from Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, North and South Sudan, and Vietnam. Many have witnessed wars, car bombings, and horrors that we cannot even imagine in our small town. My goal as an educator is to prepare them for their mainstream content area classes and help them achieve their goals of graduating middle school and increasing their likelihood of graduating high school. Many of my ELLs have little to no prior background knowledge in science and content area reading and continue to struggle, without grade level supplementary levels, differentiated for their language proficiency.
My Project
The requested Time For Kids will vitally change my English language learners' lives by bringing content area reading to life for my English language learners. My Ells have difficulties bridging the language and content gap. By using differentiated reading materials like the Time 4 Kids Magazines allows all my students to access grade level texts in exciting, critical and creative ways. My ELL students will use the Time 4 Kids Magazines for independent, supplemental reading and the higher level magazines for group readings during our "intervention" period. We will produce CLOZE activities, read aloud, quizzes, short answers, long answer writing exercises, and literature circles.
These donations will have the greatest impact on my English language learners because they have such limited background experience in reading independently or participating in literature circles/group work.
Having the Time 4 Kids Magazines will allow me to differentiate the reading materials in the classroom more readily for my diverse population.
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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. Giroux and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.