"Reaching for the Stars"

Funded Oct 29, 2023

"Reaching for the Stars" was such a successful project and read for my students! Many of my students have social/emotional issues and a few come from foster homes. The story of Jose Hernandez and his plight from migrant farmworker to astronaut really hit home for a lot of my students as the material was relevant and believable. The farming here in Oxnard is prevalent as is student's experience who have parents working in the fields, or have worked in fields themselves. So overall, all the student's had prior knowledge before we even starting reading. My class is very structured and small (no more than 12 students per class).

I start out each English class with a writing prompt, in which the students are required to write about in their journals on a daily basis. After that, they are required to complete a vocabulary packet which consists of 10 words that are based on the chapters we are covering for the week. This gives the students better understanding of the reading for comprehension and clarity. After this, we begin reading the assigned chapters for the week. Overall, my students loved this story and I believe it helped to inspire them as well!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Schaberg