Past projects 2
Read Woke: Classroom Edition
Funded Nov 30, 2021I can't thank you enough for your donation to our classroom "Read Woke" project. It has been a real pleasure to watch daily independent reading become a part of our classroom routine this school year. Although reading for pleasure has numerous academic benefits – such as increased vocabulary, improved writing ability, and better reading comprehension – it is the personal benefits to the students that I find the most inspiring.
Aside from the educational advantages, regular reading can reduce stress, increase attention span, and strengthen our understanding of ourselves and others. These are not insignificant benefits in an age of technology. Modern teens report heightened anxiety, interrupted sleep, depression, difficulty focusing, and a reduced sense of connection to their peers. Far and away the best evidence of what your generosity has accomplished are the benefits reported by the students themselves. Many say that they enjoy the calm and quiet that our daily reading time provides. In fact, some have begun to come into class early to immediately begin reading. Likewise, students are increasingly able to focus on reading for longer periods. Finally, the books you provided to our classroom were specifically chosen to offer students insight into lives, perspectives, and experiences that may be very different from their own. I am so pleased to hear students expressing empathy and increased awareness after reading. Likewise, many have been grateful to read stories to which they can relate. Through reading, they are truly building a better understanding of themselves and others.
Below you can read a few student testimonials. And make sure to read the other student Thank You notes that are uploaded as photographs!
"You helped me realize that reading is really good for my mental health. I wouldn't have realized it without you, so thanks!!! This is also the most I have ever read in a while, so yeah."
"I find the reading time relaxing because it is nice and quiet ."
"We appreciate the books you donated a lot. I'm not much of a reader, but I'm enjoying these."
"I read something new that I haven't tried before. I have learned more about racism from reading The Hate U Give."
"I barely read in my free time, but reading these books makes me want to read more because they're fun and creative. I have read around four books this year! I'm proud and glad we got these books because it gets me to read more."
"When we start off class by reading it's relaxing and very interesting to learn about new things. I really enjoy it. It was really cool to learn about a person's life who suffered from a lot of normal teenage issues like substance abuse and insecurity."
"To be honest this semester I haven't really enjoyed reading till I started to read American Born Chinese. I've gotten relaxation and peace out of reading in class, and I got to see a person's perspective about growing up facing discrimination."
"I never read before the reading time in class this year. Now I have read two books! It's relaxing to read in silence."
"During reading time I've gotten time to relax. I have learned about how different people's lives are and how they are different from mine."
"These books give me a chance to go outside my normal range of books and I appreciate that very much, so thank you again!"
"Whenever I have time to read it helps my mind take a break from all the thinking I've been doing on my assignments."
"Some of the books here in the classroom I got for myself so I can read them at home too."”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kingsbery
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 8 other donors.Classroom Library of French Children's Books
Funded Oct 29, 2013I can't fully express my joy, excitement, and thanks for your donation to my project. It is great to see that you share my vision for reaching children.
In learning a language, it is essential for the students to be exposed to as much authentic language use as possible, whether spoken or written word. Often, this language can be difficult for novice language learners to understand. The books that you have funded will enable students to read in French. We used your generous funds to purchase a wide variety of reading materials, from children's books, to magazines, to chapter books. The students have been able to choose whatever text is of interest to them and have used the pictures and familiar content to better understand written French. However, far and away the best evidence of what your generosity has accomplished is the student interest. They have begun to ask me regularly if we are reading and look forward to their time to work independently at their own level.
I hope to share with my colleagues the success we are seeing with this reading program. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Kingsbery