My Reading Lab services students in grades 9-12 who struggle with reading and writing. The students come to me in small groups in order to receive remedial reading instruction. Many of these students are several grade levels behind in reading and therefore, struggle in their content area classes as a result.
My students are hard workers and are determined to learn the skills and strategies needed to be successful and voracious readers.
They love being given 20 minutes of independent reading time daily and are able to make gains in their reading levels as a result of their growing interest in reading. They are beginning to take control of their own learning and play an active role in the decision-making process within the Reading Lab. They inform me of the books they are interested in reading so that my classroom library matches their reading appetites.
My Project
With Amazon deprioritizing books and libraries remaining closed or opting for hold pickup only, it's become difficult to get physical copies of books into students' hands. In the community in which I teach, the nearest bookstore is 20 miles away. In order to supply students within our district with quality, diverse books, we (local teachers) built a Little Free Library and did our best to keep it stocked with relevant, engaging books for kids of all ages. For most students, this Little Free Library is their only source of obtaining books. As the summer has progressed, we've witnessed students of all ages grabbing books and have received numerous letters from parents thanking us for keeping their children supplied with reading material.
Our Little Free Library not only provides books for our students during this unprecedented time, but it also contains purposefully selected diverse books featuring characters with different cultural experiences.
In our predominantly white community, this is integral to educating our students and building empathy.
We have reached the point where our Little Free Library requires additional funding if we want to keep it stocked with titles that kids love. We are asking for funding to purchase diverse books for a range of ages so that students in our district can continue to have a Little Free Library where they can look through and select free books. As it seems more and more likely that we will continue online learning into the fall, this Little Free Library may become our only method of getting physical copies of books into kids' hands.
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