Past projects 7
Creating Readers One Book At A Time
Funded Sep 19, 2024Thank you so much for supporting our classroom. Your donation will help to refresh our library and get books into the hands of my students, especially those students who are reluctant readers and may struggle finding a book that engages them. I am excited to have some new and popular titles that I already know my students will love.
Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. D'Cruz
Creating Readers One Book at a Time
Funded Sep 19, 2023Thank you so much for helping us to build a classroom library! I wanted you to hear from my students how your donation has impacted them. Here is a sample of what they had to say:
"Thank you to those who donated to the classroom library. It has been very helpful to me whenever I am in between books or forget my book and have something to fall back on. It has also made it so I can read a bit of a book before deciding to fully commit and having it so easily accessible just in my classroom." A.K - Grant High 9th Grader
"The classroom library has introduced me to so many books and has helped me increase my reading stamina. I don't love a lot of books so reading outside of class is something I don't frequently do, but thanks to the classroom library I read so much more. Not only do I find books in class, I am able to read them and find out if I love them. For example, I found the book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and it is one of my favorite books of all time." S.K.- Grant High 9th Grader
Thank you again for your support of our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. D'Cruz
Create A Reader One Book At A Time
Funded Sep 13, 2022Thank you so much for helping us to build a classroom library! I wanted you to hear from my students how your donation has impacted them. Here is a sample of what they had to say:
"Thank you so much for the donations to our classroom library! I love being able to have books in the classroom to read when I'm looking for a new book. It's really helpful to have them so close by in case I finish the book I've been reading or just need to find a fresh book." Grant HS 9th Grader
"The classroom library is where I've learned about the majority of the books I've read this year. It has a lot of popular books so when I forget a book there's a good chance I can grab it from there, 10/10." Grant HS 9th Grader
"Thank you for filling the library with such diverse books! I've read romances, mysteries, historical fiction, and even coming-of-age novels, which have all been outstanding. Right now, I'm about to finish A Field Guide to the North American Teenager, and it's so interesting to see the differences between two similar countries in how they raise their teenagers." Grant HS 9th Grader
"I would just like to start this off by saying thank you to anyone who donated any books to the classroom library. It has come in handy for me numerous times. When it comes to remembering school supplies, I tend to be very forgetful, and if I take whatever book I am reading at the time out of my backpack to read at home, it's pretty much inevitable that I am going to forget to bring it the next day. Having the classroom library to fall back on, and use as a tool to discover more books is very helpful. At the very start of the year, I had no idea what book I was going to start off the year reading. Over the summer I read very little and when school started I hadn't had any book I was in the middle of. Naturally, I went to the little library in the corner of the classroom to pick some random book to pass the time. I picked out 1984 by George Orwell, a book I had only heard of a couple times when talking to my parents and friends. After finishing this book, it very quickly became one of my favorite books I've ever read." Grant HS 9th Grader
Thank you again for putting these high interest books into the hands of my students!”
With gratitude,
Ms. D'Cruz
The Hope We Give: Creating Classroom Dialogues Around Race
Funded Dec 6, 2019Thank you so much for your support of my students. You helped to put a high-interest novel into the hands of young adult readers. Last year, this was my students favorite book - and reading it together gave us the opportunity to talk about issues around race and justice. Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. D'Cruz
This classroom project was brought to life by CRUNCH and 7 other donors.Help Create a Reading Utopia Using Young Adult Dystopian Fiction
Funded Oct 3, 2019Thank you all so much for your donation to my project. Because of you, my students will have an expanded choice of high-interest and high-quality novels this year. Choice is such an important part of helping students take ownership of their own learning and thinking.
I look forward to showing you the impact your donation has made.
Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. D'Cruz
This classroom project was brought to life by District Partnership Program and 20 other donors.The Hope We Give: Creating Classroom Dialogues About Race
Funded Aug 22, 2018Thank you so much for donating to my classroom this year. With your help, I was able to purchase a copy of The Hate U Give for all of my ninth grade students. This meant that each of my 100 students had a book to take home and read. This is no small thing - our district could not allocate any more money for buying books, and getting a relevant, high interest book into the hands of every students is the way that we can create (and keep) readers.
It is rare that I teach a book that every student loves - and The Hate U Give is that book. Even students who normally struggle to focus during reading time were engaged. The timing could not have been better as we started reading the book right before the movie was released. We had classroom discussions about racism, stereotypes, and implicit bias. We looked at how Angie Thomas developed well-rounded and believable characters. Finally, students worked in teams to research victims of excessive use of force by police officers. They examined what happened, considered all sides, and pondered about what justice should look like. Along the way, they learned about how to find reliable sources and give citations for those sources.
My students and I appreciate your generosity and interest in supporting schools. We are creating readers and thinkers one book at a time!”
With gratitude,
Ms. D'Cruz
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 18 other donors.The Hope We Give: Creating Classroom Dialogues About Race
Funded Aug 25, 2017I want you all to know the tremendous impact you made on my students by helping us to purchase The Hate U Give books. The first sign that this high interest, relevant book was going to capture my students attention (not easy by the way!) was that students were reading the book BEFORE THE BELL RANG. I had a few students who read the book more than once and many who said it was the best book they had read so far in school - or ever.
During class we learned, through the eyes of the main character Starr, about how racism and bias can lead to a life where people of color feel the need to maintain double identities in order to navigate through a world full of white privilege. Students learned about racial profiling, implicit bias, and code switching - as well as more "traditional" English classroom work like writing a strong thesis statement, using evidence from the text to back of your ideas, and analyzing character. We noticed the ways in which Angie Thomas' characters defied stereotypes and expectations. We examined our own bias. We shared personal stories. Then we moved from the world of the story to the real world.
The highlight of the whole unit was a final project I called "Say Their Names." As you may recall, The Hate You Give centers around an unarmed African-American teenager who is killed by police - and I encourage all of you to read it. Students each picked an unarmed victim who was killed by police and researched what happened to this person and, perhaps most importantly, showed us the humanity and life behind names that were in the headlines - think Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Trayvon Martin. Students considered what justice should have looked like in each case and considered the legacy of these victims. As one student explained, "The death of Michael Brown is a mirror. It forces us not just to look at what happened, but also to look at ourselves, and think about what we would have done...This mirror shows reality in a starker light, and forces us to either face the unpleasant truths we see in our reflection, or turn away from them and deny them. But only by facing these truths can we make a change for the better in this world."
We spent a week listening and learning from each other as students presented and reflected on their findings. What was most impressive was the questions that followed each presentation as students were truly engaged in wanting to understand what had happened in each case and why - Why was a choke hold used when that is illegal? Why was the officer acquitted? What is the "stand your ground law? How could the result have been different? Was that reasonable force? My students were wrestling with real world questions that didn't have easy answers.
Thank you again for helping my students experience with this powerful reading. We couldn't have done it without your help.”
With gratitude,
Ms. D'Cruz