Santa Barbara Community Academy in Santa Barbara, California on DonorsChoose

{"monthlySchoolDonationEnabled":false,"callToActionDisplayName":"Santa Barbara Community Academy","outOfStateSupporters":10.3,"allowSchoolLevelGiving":true,"hasFundedProjects":true,"projectGratitudeData":[{"teacherId":7096210,"projectId":9123791,"letterContent":"We probably all have personal stories about young children begging us to road Goodnight Moon or some other favorite bedtime story \"one more time!\" Reading is rereading! Not only do our students know this, but they love the opportunity to read and reread engaging books. The books from \"Read More Write More\" served several purposes: Learning the importance of re-reading, learning to conduct research, and learning to use drawing to support the understanding of content and to express their understanding of what they learned. are being read over and over. \r\n\r\nLearning to re-read is a goal for all students, K-12. If kids develop a positive attitude about re-reading at an early age, they will have the mind set that they need to stick with the challenge when they encounter more complex texts in future years. Well-illustrated, fun, and highly detailed books help them learn this attitude. By having engaging texts, students learn more specific details about animals' unique characteristics in order to complete their end-of-the-unit project. The end of this unit, \"Creature Features,\" requires students to gather evidence from the texts they read and to write an informative paragraph about an animal's unique features. They must include a topic sentence, two or more details about how the animal uses the features, and a conclusion. They are also required to write complete sentences with a capital letter and an end punctuation mark, correct spelling, and an illustration of the animal and its features. (189) They rise to the \r\n\r\nThis is a daunting task for first graders! \"Read More Write More\" helped students rise to the occasion. Kids enjoyed the books that were provided by the curriculum, but needed more: more different animals, greater detail about particular animals, and more illustrations to show the unique characteristics of each animal to help them thrive and survive in their environment. \r\n\r\nThese are very challenging requirements for 1st graders! They rise to the occasion though when they are engaged and want to share all they have learned about their favorite animals. Many students found a different favorite animal because they had more different animals to read about because of our project. \r\n\r\nBesides the greater variety, the books about animals that were already in our library were supplemented by more detailed information in the books we got through \"Read More Write More.\" The more information they had, the more research they could do and that resulted in more writing. Drawings and illustrations are important parts of all books for young readers because art not only helps the information be more accessible (for all readers), but it helps them demonstrate their understanding of the content.\r\n\r\nOur photos will show students' deep engagement with the books and their \"thank-you\" letters, with their comments about their favorite animal or finding a new favorite animal, show what a powerful impact \"Read More Write More\" has had on our students this year and will continue to have on our future first graders for years to come. Thank you!","fullyFundedDate":1742589504615,"projectUrl":"project/read-more-write-more/9123791/","projectTitle":"Read More, Write More!","teacherDisplayName":"Ms. Robertson","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://cdn.donorschoose.net/images/placeholder-avatars/272/teacher-placeholder-6_272.png?auto=webp","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/7096210"},{"teacherId":4631442,"projectId":8838045,"letterContent":"Thank you so much for your generosity in providing new books for our classroom library! Your support has made an incredible impact on our students' reading experience.\r\n\r\nWith these new texts, students are not only engaging with fresh stories but also building important reading skills. Many of the books help us introduce lessons on identifying themes, making inferences, and understanding different perspectives. We've also been exploring how authors develop characters over time, which sparks great discussions about empathy and how people grow and change.\r\n\r\nReading in our classroom is both independent and collaborative. Students spend time each day reading on their own, choosing books that interest them. We also set aside time for read-alouds and small group discussions, where students can share their thoughts and learn from each other. It's been inspiring to see how these conversations deepen their understanding of the stories.\r\n\r\nOne group just started book one in the Percy Jackson series and they are enjoying it. We read it out loud to build fluency and do comprehension at the end.\r\n\r\n\r\nYour gift is opening up new worlds for our students, and we are so grateful for your belief in our classroom community. Thank you for helping us create lifelong readers!","fullyFundedDate":1739297344358,"projectUrl":"project/chapter-chasers-books-for-curious-kids/8838045/","projectTitle":"Chapter Chasers: Books for Curious Kids","teacherDisplayName":"Mrs. Castro","teacherPhotoUrl":"https://storage.donorschoose.net/dc_prod/images/teacher/profile/orig/tp4631442_orig.jpg?crop=1:1,smart&width=272&height=272&fit=bounds&auto=webp&t=1697662479663","teacherClassroomUrl":"classroom/4631442"},{"teacherId":7096210,"projectId":8635505,"letterContent":"My students are using the cursive handwriting book to practice their cursive handwriting skills. When they first saw the sprial bound books and realized they were dry-erase boards, they said things like, \"Oh cool!\" and \"Wow.\" In general they love to use dry-erase boards but they particularly loved these because, as they said, \"They're so smooth and erase so easily!\" All too often the white boards they receive are less than top quality, so they recognized and appreciated the superior quality of these. That in and of itself is motivating for students--to know that they deserve good quality materials. \r\n\r\nMore importantly, this resource allows us to build on an important component of language development: that the act of handwriting plays a crucial role in learning to read. Students who practice handwriting do better at reading and spelling. The experts believe that forming letters by hand while learning sounds activates reading circuits in the brain that promote literacy. Interestingly enough, the students in these photos were practicing their handwriting as part of their phonics lesson. Compared to typing, cursive writing has been associated with specific patterns of electrical activity in the brain that are not activitated by typing. 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About this school

Santa Barbara Community Academy is an urban public school in Santa Barbara, California that is part of Santa Barbara Unified School District. It serves 202 students in grades Pre-K - 6 with a student/teacher ratio of 16.8:1. Its teachers have had 12 projects funded on DonorsChoose.

Equity Focus School

Support towards this school will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Public School

Title 1

Grades Pre-K - 6

202 Students

12 Teachers

850 Portesuello Ave

Santa Barbara, CA 93101 View local requests

http://www.sbunified.org

Evidence-based impact

Inspire teachers to stay in the classroom and boost student achievement.¹

Give to this school

Ms. Vero, a DonorsChoose teacher for 9 years.

Kindergarten teacher at PS81 - Robert J. Christen School in Bronx, NY

Santa Barbara Community Academy Teachers on DonorsChoose

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Santa Barbara Community Academy Demographics

89%

of students receive free or reduced price lunch

Source: the National Center for Education Statistics

98%

of students are Black, Latino, Native American, or Asian

Schools in districts that mainly serve students of color receive substantially less state and local support than similar districts that serve primarily White students. Learn more about this gap, why it exists, and how you can help close it.

Santa Barbara Community Academy Support on DonorsChoose Last updated Dec 5, 2025

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