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This teacher needs your help!

Mrs. Mendoza from Torrance, CA is requesting books through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mrs. Mendoza is requesting

Increasing Access to Representational Books

Help me give my students access to grade level books that bring diversity into the classroom.

  • $700 goal

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Hooray! This project is fully funded

Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Mrs. Mendoza for her next project!

Help Mrs. Mendoza

Keep the momentum going! Make a donation to Mrs. Mendoza for her next project!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

Celebrate Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

I teach twenty-nine diverse and curious fourth-graders. All of whom enjoy sitting down and indulging in books just as diverse as they are. Our school is a Title I school located within Los Angeles.

The students are currently developing their skills at becoming good readers by engaging in challenging and rich texts that push them to think more critically.

In our classroom, students are encouraged to develop their skills at becoming not only good readers, but readers who are diverse and comfortable with being uncomfortable. Seeing as students learn best when they are faced with a productive struggle. Furthermore, many students lack access to books at home in order to reinforce many of the skills they are taught in the class.

My Project

All of the books selected within this project will either be placed in our classroom library or used as read-alouds throughout the course of the year.

All of my students love to read, however, many of them do not have access to books at home.

Therefore, these texts will help alleviate this challenge and give access to those who need it most. Books placed in our classroom library will ensure that students continue to read independently and at home, thus enhancing student learning. Providing students access to representational books not only makes them want to read more, since they can relate to the characters in the stories, but will also provide students' the opportunities to apply many of the skills they learn in the classroom to independent reading.

While those texts selected for read-alouds will further students' learning by providing students the opportunity to hear fluent reading daily, therefore, increasing their exposure good reading.

Mrs. Mendoza Meyler Street Elementary School Grades 3-5

Equity Focus

At this school, more than 50% of students are Black, Latino, and/or Native American, and more than 50% come from low-income households. Learn how your donation to this school supports a more equitable education.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

More about Mrs. Mendoza

Torrance, CA View local requests

Nearly all students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

29 students impacted 5donors

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Animals Upside Down: A Pull, Pop, Lift & Learn Book! • Amazon Business $23.49 1 $23.49
Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More!: Poems for Two Voices • Amazon Business $18.99 1 $18.99
You Are the Earth: Know Your World So You Can Help Make It Better • Amazon Business $18.95 1 $18.95
Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters • Amazon Business $18.69 1 $18.69
I, Too, Am America • Amazon Business $17.99 1 $17.99
Young Zeus • Amazon Business $17.99 1 $17.99
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos • Amazon Business $17.09 1 $17.09
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal (Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux) • Amazon Business $16.40 1 $16.40
American Tall Tales • Amazon Business $15.99 1 $15.99
Sacagawea (Carter G Woodson Award Book (Awards)) • Amazon Business $15.78 1 $15.78
Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the Past • Amazon Business $15.63 1 $15.63
Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette • Amazon Business $14.90 1 $14.90
Chicken Sunday • Amazon Business $14.60 1 $14.60
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation (Jane Addams Award Book (Awards)) • Amazon Business $14.33 1 $14.33
The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks • Amazon Business $13.80 1 $13.80
Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America • Amazon Business $13.59 1 $13.59
The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps • Amazon Business $13.47 1 $13.47
Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard (Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Books) • Amazon Business $13.38 1 $13.38
Locomotive (Caldecott Medal Book) • Amazon Business $12.73 1 $12.73
Cycle of Rice, Cycle of Life: A Story of Sustainable Farming • Amazon Business $10.38 1 $10.38
Gopher to the Rescue! A Volcano Recovery Story (Arbordale Collection) • Amazon Business $9.95 1 $9.95
Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John "Appleseed" Chapman • Amazon Business $9.53 1 $9.53
Uncle Jed's Barbershop • Amazon Business $8.99 1 $8.99
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom • Amazon Business $8.95 1 $8.95
Turtle in Paradise • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Weslandia • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Inside Out and Back Again • Amazon Business $7.99 1 $7.99
Wired • Amazon Business $7.95 1 $7.95
The Dreamer • Amazon Business $7.95 1 $7.95
Volcano Rising • Amazon Business $7.95 1 $7.95
Charged Up: The Story of Electricity (Science Works) • Amazon Business $7.95 1 $7.95
Green Boy • Amazon Business $7.87 1 $7.87
Whiskers, Tails & Wings: Animal Folktales from Mexico • Amazon Business $7.81 1 $7.81
The Toothpaste Millionaire • Amazon Business $7.67 1 $7.67
The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust • Amazon Business $7.57 1 $7.57
Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights • Amazon Business $7.41 1 $7.41
The Bill of Rights in Translation: What It Really Means (Kids' Translations) • Amazon Business $7.40 1 $7.40
A Nation's Hope: the Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis • Amazon Business $7.19 1 $7.19
A New Coat for Anna (Dragonfly Books) • Amazon Business $7.07 1 $7.07
The Magic School Bus And The Electric Field Trip • Amazon Business $6.99 1 $6.99
The One and Only Ivan • Amazon Business $6.94 1 $6.94
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Young Reader's Edition • Amazon Business $5.84 1 $5.84
Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed their World • Amazon Business $5.79 1 $5.79
One Beetle Too Many: Candlewick Biographies: The Extraordinary Adventures of Charles Darwin • Amazon Business $4.99 1 $4.99
Eruption!: Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives (Scientists in the Field Series) • Amazon Business $4.66 1 $4.66
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane • Amazon Business $3.99 1 $3.99

Materials cost

$510.55

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $46.72

3rd party payment processing fee

$7.66

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$594.93

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$104.99

Total project goal

$699.92

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $699.92

4 Donors

-$285.00

Donations toward project cost

-$266.25

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$18.75

match offer

-$386.68

Match offer toward project cost

-$328.68

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$58.00

Excluded support for DonorsChoose

-$28.24

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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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 Mrs. Mendoza and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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