Past projects 4
Books for the Love of Reading
Funded Apr 3, 2024"Yes! Reading day! This is the calmest day of my week!" This is roughly what at least 3 different students have declared out loud when they walked into my classroom and saw the red cart with the books on it. "I like the days when I get to choose what I want to read. It's relaxing." This is along the lines of what dozens of students have reported in their feedback forms about their favorite parts of our Spanish class.
You made this possible by growing our library and doubling my students' reading options with more books, more themes & genres, and more joy in reading. Thank you for your generosity and for helping to fill the gaps in our public school funding so that all our students get to explore their own interests, learn about diverse cultures in the Spanish speaking world, and acquire more Spanish from the pages of our library books. Thank you for investing in this awesome learning experience in our classroom.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ramovic
Grow Our Library!
Funded Dec 19, 2023Picture this: Students are trickling into our class period. They each leave their phone in their designated pocket. They each choose a book from a library on wheels that has a few copies each of about 100 different books. These books (of any/every genre) were written specifically for language leaders to help accelerate their acquisition.
Class has started. Not a single student has a cell phone, but every student has a book (whichever one they want!). They do not have to read quickly. They do not have to read exactly what their classmates read. They do not have to read a certain amount of text. They will not be tested on what they read. The only requirement is that they explore their book until they find their own rhythm of reading. They get to test out their personal reading preferences. They (hopefully) get to dabble in the joy of reading... and they get to do it in Spanish!
With your donation, you have made this possible. You played a crucial role in helping me to nearly double the variety of books I'm able to offer students as they explore the joys of reading and grow their Spanish vocabulary while they do it.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ramovic
Students' Self-Published Books
Funded May 19, 2019Today is the last day of the school year and, thanks to you, my students are all officially authors in Spanish!! They were so excited to create their own stories, illustrate them, and bind them in the professional-looking materials you all made possible. You can look at the pictures and see what kids came up with and how the books looked in the end. You can also see the sheer number of student-created books I have for years to come as reading materials for future Spanish students.
Reading is a fantastic way to increase language acquisition. However, in order for it to be a truly effective tool, the materials being read must be *of interest* to students. What can be more interesting to students than reading stories they and their peers created??
Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for donating to this project. It helped students reflect on how much they've learned in the past 10 months. It was also fun, relaxing, and exciting for my students: everything they need after a long school year!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ramovic
Reading in Spanish Should Be Fun!
Funded Nov 16, 2018I want to update you all on the classroom library that you contributed to late last year. As you can see from my photos, the collection of books has grown from the ones you initially funded. Your support planted a seed from which I was able to get more institutional support to grow my library for my students. Once my department chair saw the budding collection of books and the impact it was having on my students' Spanish, she supported me in securing more funding for an even larger library.
I also got additional funding from my union and even created my own books using student art work and creativity as well as around 25 donated binders (you can see them on the bottom shelf of the book cart). I secured a steeply discounted, bright red book cart and I can now wheel my collection back and forth to all my classes. I think of you all each time I do!
All in all, and thanks to your initial confidence in my project, my students now have over 100 books to choose from as well as around 30 binders with student-created stories. These books are tailored to students learning Spanish as a second (and sometimes 3rd or 4th) language. Their Spanish has improved dramatically and their output has grown. Students' vocabulary has grown far beyond what I've taught during instruction all because they get to read these special books.
Thank you for supporting a new teacher, her young students, and this exciting Spanish language library!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ramovic