I teach English Language Development at a public school in Northern California. The students are very curious and excited to learn starting on day one. This is when I realized how lucky I was to be teaching these students. I recall on one first day of school a little girl brought me a book she wrote and said she was going to be an author. Wow!
With guidance and practice my students will become independent readers and writers, who will shop for books, read with their partners, write about their books, and share their successes with their classmates.
I am able to read upper level chapter books to them and keep their attention. When storytime is over they would yell, "no, no, keep reading." That's what Charlotte's Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will do to you! My goal is get students hooked on reading for life.
My students are kind and care about one another. I do a lot of community building activities which gives my students a safe place to learn, make mistakes and challenge themselves. This is especially good for my ELL's. I love my school and the students.
My Project
I want to update my classroom library and make it a warm and inviting space for students to visit. It is here that they will shop for books for their book bags, read quietly by themselves and/or read with a buddy. During literacy time my students shop for 5 or 6 books at their level to put in their book bags for independent reading time and buddy reading time. With 22 students there is a need for a lot of books. My classroom was a kindergarten room, so many of the books were below grade level, old, out of date or just plain boring. My class library needs new fiction and non-fiction titles that interest the kids and encourage them to want to read.
At this age books ARE chosen by their covers and new books will spark their interest!
They look forward to moving up in reading levels, and having a variety of book choices will help them succeed and encourage them to read more. Books are sorted by level, as well as genre, and author. The books I am ordering are the levels I have the fewest books of. This library makeover will benefit my class for years to come. I chose book bundles for reading levels G, H, and I. This would give my library 120 new titles for the kids to choose from. I hope to later add biographies, and early-readers chapter books. A library can never have too many books.
Have you ever seen school furniture? I am trying to change mine. A sturdy bookcase is needed to hold baskets full of books that will be getting a lot of use and moved around a lot. I've always had used furniture or hand me downs, so a new bookshelf would be a treat.
More than a third of 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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