My students come from a socio-economically diverse community where we work to learn about diverse perspectives and identities in everything that we do. Our school strives to be a community working together to build success and inspire every child, every day. I believe that this includes honoring and highlighting the diverse learners that make up our school, our community, and our world.
We make reading a priority in our classroom.
Each day, we begin class by reading our independent choice novels, and students have both a classroom library and a school library to find the books that are right for them. That being said, many of the full class novels we have access to do not represent the full range of learners and identities at our school.
We also work to support each other in difficult learning. We will begin our year by creating social contracts that we all sign, myself included, to share goals we have for making our class a welcoming, safe, and brave space to learn and grow. We ask questions. We know we can do hard things. We know that words matter.
My Project
I want to fill our classroom with books, but I do not want to fill our classroom with books that no one wants to read. Currently, I have bookshelves full of books I have inherited upon entering this classroom. They are old in more ways than one. Not only are many of them falling apart, but many of them are unloved by virtue of being simply old, uninteresting, and unattractive. I have worked this past year to visit library book sales to increase the amount of high-interest books in our classroom, but I have found some gaps in our current selections.
It's not about creating a library of more books, but a library of better and more accessible books.
This year I am focused on filling non-fiction gaps with books that my students are consistently asking for, as well as books at lower-levels for struggling readers or those that simply haven't found what they love... yet. This means more graphic novels and more books that are shorter and often considered "below grade-level". When it comes to choice-reading, though, I am less concerned about the level and more concerned about students who want to read, who identify as readers and share that love with each other. This is particularly important this year as I have two co-taught classes with many students with IEPs and diverse classroom needs. It is essential that every student feel they can access books in my classroom, no matter their needs.
In addition, I try to cover new books in contact paper so that they last longer. With this project, I will be able to get better books into hands faster and more efficiently while providing them with protection so more students can enjoy them.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Black and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
