Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Books for Schools: Donors Choose



Last fall we featured a Donors Choose request for Economics text books from my friend Mr. Cory Campbell who teaches in Washington State. His project was fully funded (yay!) so now we're back with two other projects for you to choose from. Donors Choose is a non-profit organization that operates a web site that matches school projects that need funding - often small amounts - with people who want to help fund those projects. I love it because you get to see who your funding and exactly where the money will be spend. And now on to two our projects for today...


The first comes from a school in Los Angeles. They need mystery novels for kids, and who are we to deny them those? Here is their request

Who doesn't love a chilling mystery? Adding new books to our collection will expand the chilling choices.
85% of my students are living below the poverty line and our school library is the only place to get books for most of them. Many of them are English language learners and having access to books and finding the one that is right for them is extremely important.
The students are continually asking where to find mystery books with that chilling edge. This series will be a great asset to our library and will engage students for years to come. Finding a book that not only intrigues the students but comes in a series is always a welcome addition to our library shelves. As the students finish other book series that are from the same genre they look for something new. At this time we do not have this series in our library.
Reading is a large part of an elementary students education. Having books that not only help with their reading skills but also creates a love of reading is the best thing a school library can offer.
You can donate to this project here


The second project comes from Rock Island, IL and they want books too. Here's what their teacher has to say:

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." - Dr. Seuss

Can you image life without books? Well, I hate to admit this, but many of the students in my classroom, don't have books at home.

Creating the desire to read independently is what we have been working on all year! We have written a project for a printer where we are able to print some books from the web, but imagine being able to have your OWN book! Each student would love to have a book to take home so they can read and fully understand what they are reading. They love to come back to class and let us know what they have read!

Our school is comprised of several races and ethnicities. We have over 50% free and reduced lunch and are considered "low income." We work very hard to request materials that our students need and they really need books they are able to take home!

My students will use the Favorite Series Samplers and other high interest books, not only read in class, but to read at home. One of the many reading strategies that we use is to read the book several times. First, we read it independently, then we read it out loud to an adult or friend, and finally we read it as a group. This helps to build the comprehension skills that are very important for my students. The books will not only help my students now, but they will help my students in the future. We'll add them to our small classroom library and students will be able to check them out when they'd like to take them home for the weekend.


As Dr. Seuss states, "reading is knowledge." Help my students gain the knowledge that they deserve. Help them create that imagination that they long for. Your donation will help them build that independent love of reading. I always tell my students: reading is knowledge, knowledge is power, and power will help you get further in life.

You can donate to this great project here. To find your own project to support on Donors Choose, click here

4 comments:

  1. Wow, these are amazing and I am going to check both of them out.

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  3. Deborah,

    Thank you so much for writing this post, and for spreading the word about these two classrooms. Mr. I and Ms. Horney will be so excited to see that their projects have been fully funded!

    We truly appreciate your support! You ROCK!

    All the best,
    Margie, DonorsChoose.org Marketing Team

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    1. Margie:
      That is great news! Thank you for letting us know.
      Deborah

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