Let's Get Lit...erary: 4th Graders Need Books

Funded Jan 19, 2018

I am a 4th grade teacher in an inner-city school. Many of my students are ESL students and are new to the country. To help them continue their literary journey, my students need to continue to be literate in their first language. These books allowed Spanish/ Vietnamese speaking students to read challenging texts in their first language. They were able to apply skills from our classroom, such as finding themes, describing characters and settings, etc.

In our classroom, reading is a group effort. I read and teach a skill, students read and discuss how they use a skill with a partner, and then they read and practice independently. Many of the students with limited English are often embarrassed when reading lower leveled books, but the books that were donated were high interest, challenging reading books, that allowed these students to relate to English readers on grade level.

The most popular book from the collection is Neil Gaiman's "Coraline." It was extremely requested and the students started a sign out sheet to make sure everyone (including bilingual students) had a chance to read it. These books allowed all of the various readers in my room a chance to continue their literary journey.

Thank you for your donations. You'll never know how much you helped my students this year.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Larios