Building a Bilingual Library: Sparking a Love for Reading

Funded Dec 3, 2024

Your generous support helped us fill our bilingual fourth-grade classroom with rich books which represent our students' languages and cultural experiences. My students who are at the Entering and Emergent stages of English proficiency have greatly benefited from our new bilingual library. These books have facilitated vocabulary growth and improved understanding while strengthening students' reading self-assurance from beginners to advanced learners.

Students in our classroom read books in both English and Spanish. Students will be observed reading silently alongside a partner while they use sticky notes to capture their thoughts or participating in small group reading discussions. Bilingual books have proven effective at enabling students of different language backgrounds to access grade-level materials. After initial hesitance with reading activities this year an Entering level student now chooses books based on her home language and cultural background. Our Expanding and Commanding students work with advanced texts to use them as templates for their writing exercises.

Through this project students achieved language growth while simultaneously building a communal sense of belonging. Students experience validation when they open books and find familiar words and stories from their lives. Your support enables our classroom to become an environment where each student develops reading skills while forming a deep appreciation for the process.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Meneses