Literacy Bundle
The objective of this grant is to secure funding for literacy tools for the entire school. The items in this literacy bundle include a class set of the novel Wonder, a class set of Tucker's Countryside, picture books for social emotional themes, magazine subscriptions and the entire set of the Who Was/What was series.
We strongly believe that putting good books in the hands of young readers is essential to their overall love for reading and for learning. That said, the series Who Was has also created two additional series called What Was and Where Was. These books are a great addition to our school library, which is a library fully created, organized, and managed by teachers within our classrooms. This series will allow our school access to books about people that matter, places students can begin to dream of traveling to, and explains what in relation to our Earth's history. Our students currently have a few of these books in our school and they are highly sought after. We are always tracking them down and trading them out. However, 10 books out of a 264 plus series isn't even a dent. These books are about engagement, purpose, meaning, and teachers will be able to tie them directly to content and activities in the classroom so they are utilized as a learning tool.
Our school does not have a library or a librarian. As teachers we have done our very best to put high quality and engaging books into the hands of our students. Above all else, the love for learning is the most important. That said, each classroom has a variety of books that we try to update and catalogue as best we can to mimic a library-like atmosphere. It's a safe space for students to learn to pick books, read quietly to self or with a friend and we even hold book club meetings and literature circles in this space. Throughout our continuing quest to expand our classroom libraries (where students do often travel to another classroom to shop a favorite shelf or find a suggested book which is great for our school wide relationships) we have found that we are lacking greatly in one genre, magazines. Much of what we read to mimic magazines is through the internet, which is fabulous, however, we think we are all learning that nothing compares to holding written words in your hands. Our school would like to purchase a one year subscription in the following magazines; Discovery Kids, ASK, Kazoo, OWL, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and National Geographic for Kids.
We would like to add 25 copies of both Tuckers Countryside and the novel Wonder to be used for guided reading in the fourth and fifth grade classroom. These novels support our instruction of reading strategies and connection with other writing projects. Both of these books have themes of friendship and kindness. Novel studies bring a class together as they dive into the lives of these characters.
Social and emotional support as well as character education are a crucial integration into the classroom. We would like to work as a team to select $650 and create a resource library for teaching themes in social and emotional development. These books will be taught in conjunction with our Second Step curriculum. Through the PLC, our staff will select a variety of age appropriate picture books to support our social and emotional development.