My students need 8 copies each of 14 books. Reading programs focus on big textbooks with excerpts from novels. My kids need chapter books so they can experience good, old-fashioned reading!
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Engelman's classroom raised $719
This project is fully funded
My Students
Many of my students only experience reading in school. At home, they have computers, tablets and video games. In school, modern language arts programs require kids to read pieces of books printed up in a huge textbook collection. I fear they are missing the experience of cuddling up with a good book.
My school is a suburban school in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
We are a Title One school, and many of our students speak two or three languages. We have a disparate group of kids, with a very wide range of abilities and scholastic levels.
Our students come from all walks of life, from all over the city, here in Southern California. Some ride the bus for more than an hour each way, just to come to our unique little school. Ours is a "span" school, which means we need to meet the needs of students from kindergarten all the way to the 12th grade. Our small, diverse population of students adhere to our school's mission, "Never give up on a dream."
My Project
In order to foster a true love of reading, I think it is essential for my students to experience immersing themselves in a good book. That simply does not happen with modern-day language arts programs, which rely on huge textbooks loaded with parts of stories.
In my classroom, I set aside certain weeks throughout the year where my students are assigned to reading groups. Each group has 7-8 students who read at similar levels of fluency and comprehension. In addition to reading their books, they get to create their own vocabulary and spelling lists, create puzzles for their peers to complete, write quizzes for each other, and even grade each other's work.
The students love these reading groups. I often hear groaning and moaning when I tell them to stop reading because it is time for recess. How many times can a teacher say they have to STOP the kids from reading to go out and play? The kids get so much out of the reading groups, and I want to provide them with more books to read!
By purchasing these books such as The Littles for my students, I can help them experience the richness that great books bring to their imaginations.
We can break open the huge textbooks and read 15 pages pulled from a novel, or they can actually read the whole novel!
How many people can say they have fond memories of reading a textbook when they were kids in school? I might argue, not many. Help me to spark a love of reading in my students, and help them to become life-long bibliophiles!
More than three‑quarters 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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