A day in our classroom is filled with laughter, inquiry, and hard work. My students do their best to learn literacy, math, science, and social studies, often in a new language to them. My students are growing up in poverty, and they belong to a dual Spanish Immersion school located in an urban area.
Despite the challenges that poverty brings, they are thirsty for knowledge and they look forward to the learning opportunities that my classroom brings.
My students are filled with energy and goals for the future, and good reading habits are paramount to reach those goals. My students strive each day to meet our academic goals for 2nd grade: to grow the equivalent to one and a half years of instruction in both English and Spanish.
I am requesting twenty-four non-fiction texts in Spanish dealing with careers including Que Hacen Los Policias? for our classroom library and to support my students’ love of learning and building of critical thinking skills. The books I chose for this project have rich informational text and engaging photos that will lend themselves naturally to deep thinking. My students need a strong foundation in literacy and citizenship skills. The first step in this process is to have rich texts that spark curiosity and deep thinking. The books in this library will be used on a daily basis by my students during independent reading.
By funding this project you will be contributing to closing the achievement gap.
Research shows that there is a strong correlation between the number and quality of books available to an individual and his/her performance of literacy. Most of my students do not have books available to read at home. By providing a high quality library of rich texts in their classroom, my students will have the resources necessary to compete academically with their middle-class peers.