Past projects 12
I Model, You Comprehend- Building Mentor Text Library Pt. 1
Funded Sep 5, 2013My third graders were so excited to see all of our new books! We started our first day with the books passing them around to different groups and previewing all the texts. Some students were really excited to see familiar titles like The Napping House and some were very excited to see new books that they had not yet heard of.
Since receiving the books, our class has done some work with visualizing and making mental images using our new mentor texts. We've talked a lot about using our five senses when making pictures in our head. We know that our five senses are hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, and smelling and we have practiced recognizing words in our books that help us think about these senses. We recorded notes of the types of words used to help us visualize and discussed them in groups. We also have played games where we try and help our partners visualize by giving five senses clues about a person, place, or thing that we are thinking of.
This project has helped my students by giving them more books to use in the classroom to practice new strategies; as well as just giving them new literature to explore. As far as my teaching goes, I have used these new books in my graduate Children's Literature class and developed a pamphlet for other teachers explaining how to use them effectively to teach inferring. I have also had conversations with my grade level teaching peers about how I have used these texts in my teaching as well as the lesson plans I have developed.
Thank you so much for helping our classroom be more successful with this reading project. It is much appreciated.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche
Help a New Teacher Welcome Her First Class Next Fall!!
Funded Jul 13, 2011My class and I are so grateful for those donations you provided for our classroom. Knowing at the opening of our school year that we would soon have these things was a great relief. My students were so excited to hear that we had packages coming and the day that the first one came I had two boys who immediately started building that rolling bookshelf!
Having these materials in our meeting space has also really helped my teaching practices. Before the easel, I was taping anchor charts all over the walls or having students hold anchor chart paper while I point out the ideas we have brainstormed. Now we can all sit and focus on the easel in front of us and I also have the freedom to keep an eye on classroom behaviors. :) The bean bags are a hot commodity and students beg for them during reading workshop time. We even had to add "bean bag for a day" to the Friday Rewards List! The rolling bookshelf has also been perfect as a holder for all books dealing with our unit of study. Right now we are studying biographies and the whole bookshelf is covered in them. It was fun to introduce the books that way so that students could dig through them and explore on their own terms. I hope to use this bookshelf highlighting all units of study in the future.
All in all, our class is enjoying the new materials and loving the addition to our classroom. It was good for us to experience the beginning of the year without them because we truly understood the benefit to our learning when they did arrive. The best part is that we are still thinking of new ways to use these things in our classroom, and learning more and more everyday because of them. We can not thank you enough.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Derouche