Past projects 6
Art and Photography Library Collection
Funded Nov 30, 2022Thank you so much for your donation to our Art and Photography resource collection for the Encinal Library!
Our students are excited to see brand new books purchased just for them in subjects they are interested in. In fact, some of our students from the photo class had a great time taking pictures for this submission.
Our students are creative and innovative and we are thrilled to support them in learning more to support them both in the classroom (Thank you Ms. Hart!) and outside of school as they strive to be lifelong learners and artists!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by an Anonymous Classroom Supporter and 6 other donors.Memoirs and Manga: Reading for All
Funded Feb 3, 2022Rebuilding our collection after the last two tough years is a challenge that I enjoy! During the unknowns of the pandemic our school did not have a librarian or make any new purchases. Now I am racing to catch up on those titles that students are requesting. They are eager to read something NOT on their computers & just as eager to share what they are reading with friends. It is extremely gratifying to once again see students excitedly telling each other about books they are reading. Just yesterday I had two students engaged in a playful tug-of-war over a new book!
Thank you so much for your generosity and helping me get new books into their hands! Students are already submitting their latest requests! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have them eager to read.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
Novels for Spanish Speakers!
Funded Jan 9, 2018The new books are a hit! I haven't even finished getting all of them processed and on the library shelves yet and students are grabbing them up as soon as I put them out! They are excited about the new up-to-date choices and I can hear some of them negotiating with each other about who will get what and who will trade with each other when they are finished. I love hearing conversations like that in the library.
Our English teachers (including EL teachers) are promoting independent reading by finding the time in the schedule for students to read a free choice book. As students get hooked on the story line they make time in their after school life to continue to read.
Reading in any language is so important to literacy development. When a student has strong literacy skills in their first language their literacy skills are so much better as they acquire a second language. We want our students to have the skills to be life long readers and learners. This will help them start that journey.
I can't thank you enough for helping me get these books into our students' hands.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by Someone who cares about the Spring Valley area and 12 other donors.Sports and Sequels: Great Reads for Reluctant Readers
Funded Nov 10, 2016Thanks to the new feature on Donors Choose to use Amazon as the vendor, our books arrived with great speed and I was able to process and add them to our collection over the last few weeks. My students LOVE having so many new titles to choose from and the books are flying off of the displays and carts as quickly as I get them out. I am so gratified that our new books will be in the students' hands over our winter break when they will have some down-time to read.
School breaks can be a wonderful time to rest and rejuvenate, but also a great time to just get into a book and read. Any chance we have to build up the confidence, vocabulary, and joy of reading is a win to me. Many of our students do not come from homes with books and many will not receive books for gifts over the holidays. This makes our library collection even more important.
Thank you for investing in my students and helping me to motivate and encourage the next generation to be readers and critical thinkers.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
Hot Titles For Engaging Readers!
Funded Dec 8, 2015Thank you very much for providing these new independent reading materials to our students! Independent reading of books students choose on their own is a vital part of developing vocabulary and literacy skills. Some literacy facts that you may not be aware of:
444,000 adults in the San Diego region read at the lowest level of literacy.
· This equates to 20% of adults who are not reading prose above the 4th grade level.
· Approximately 70% of these adults are English-speaking.
· Their limited literacy skills affect the functionality of families, communities, businesses, the cost and quality of health care, and youth success in school.
· The San Diego Council on Literacy estimates that the cost of illiteracy to our community, per adult who reads at a minimum level, is $8,000, or over $3 billion. (from literacysandiego.org)
Literacy affects dropout rates, future employment, likelihood of incarceration, ability to vote and participate in the democratic process and the future ability to assist children with homework and reading. Every time we successfully match a child or teenager to a book, fiction or nonfiction, we have an opportunity to build those much needed literacy skills so that they can be successful later in life and not contribute to the above statistics. Having free choice in what to read is so important when we hope to engage students who do not have a lot of previous positive experiences with reading. Often, when I am able to connect a child with just one book that they love, it is enough to wipe away years of negative experiences with reading and give them the motivation or courage to keep trying to find other books that are meaningful or enjoyable and thus continue to build those much needed skills. Over the years these books will circulate to reach hundreds of students and will hopefully be a gateway to lifelong learning.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
Ready! Set! Action! Director's Project
Funded Nov 10, 2011Your generous donations enabled me to purchase a small special collection of titles aimed specifically to support high school seniors on their Director's Project for their Literature through Film course. This project is quite in-depth, requiring students to choose a director to study and analyze. They present biographical information, analyze three films, and discuss the impact these films have on the film industry and/or society. Although the project at first seems daunting, the teacher and I work to chunk it into manageable smaller assignments to finally coalesce into one senior paper utilizing all of the standard MLA elements they will need when writing for college.
Our project was already underway, with much more limited resources, when I found this wonderful DonorsChoose opportunity. On the students' next visit to the library for research they were pleasantly surprised by many more resources provided through this program, enabling them to find information they were lacking for this project. Some of the specialized books like The Nightmare Before Christmas really helped bring the style of the film to life for the students; providing the information needed to discuss such unique films and techniques. I am really looking forward to sharing these new titles with our next group of students working on this project in just a few weeks. These books will continue to be utilized each year with our senior class project and will get much use!
As many of you have probably heard, budgets in California schools are getting tighter and tighter. In a climate where people are losing their jobs it is harder to request and receive funds for necessary additions to our library to enrich our students' learning experiences. Nevertheless, these supplies are needed and it is with a heart filled with joy at your generosity that I happily add our fabulous new titles to our collection. Thank you for allowing me to do my best in supporting our children's education.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Wilson
This classroom project was brought to life by Wells Fargo and 7 other donors.