KBE Literacy Needs

Moderation state
funded
Grant Applicant
Julie Otis
School Site
Kings Beach Elementary
Grant Category
Literacy
Grant Date
2022-06-18T12:00:00
Description

The objective of this grant is to meet the current literacy needs of Kings Beach Elementary, focusing primarily on classroom guided reading instruction as well as accompanying take home materials. Guided reading is the cornerstone for teaching literacy, as it systematically guides students to acquire necessary reading comprehension, phonics, fluency, and vocabulary. Students must be explicitly taught to read in a small group setting at their reading instructional level. When a teacher lacks a certain number of books at a guided reading level, it poses a detrimental educational dilemma. Furthermore, students should be able to keep their guided reading materials in a book box to continue reading or reread independently at a later time. This is similar to the way that students should continue this leveled reading practice at home. Thus, teachers desire the opportunity to supply students and families with leveled literacy materials which can be sent home to further their reading acquisition. 

In the 2019-2020 school year, half of this original grant proposal was fulfilled. KBE was given $8000 to purchase in-school, guided reading materials. However, teachers are lacking various literacy materials to enhance instruction at our school and at home. This updated grant proposal aims to assist teachers who are new to their position or our site (4th and 5th grades) as well as provide leveled readers to send home with families to help deepen a student’s understanding (and love of) reading in their home learning environment. 

Benefits of Program

All students in kindergarten through fifth grade classes would benefit from this grant. All teachers gave input for their literacy needs and every teacher at our site (except transitional kindergarten) responded with a need for guided reading materials as well as materials to send home. The first half of this grant funded guided reading books from BeBop Book Collections, which “offers leveled books that support literacy learning content for beginning readers in small group reading and intervention settings—all with the same commitment to diversity and cultural authenticity that sets all LEE & LOW books apart.” I would like to purchase the same order of books so that teachers have the opportunity to read a book with students in class, and then send home the same book for at-home practice. By sending books home, this grant not only benefits students but also their families, by providing them the materials necessary to access and enhance the curriculum.

Some of the upper elementary grades (3rd, 4th and 5th) are asking for high-interest chapter books for the students. This is another important need for our site as it increases a love of literature by providing students with exciting and concurrent reading materials. We have had some structural changes with 4th grade becoming self-contained classrooms and 5th grade coming back to our site. That said, these are critical literacy needs for all students in these grade levels. 

Success of Program

A grant that puts more books into children’s hands is a success. A grant that puts more reading materials into a child’s home is a success. A grant that gives more books to teachers for student use, enhances the classroom. A grant that allows students to bring books home, enhances the home learning environment. 

To be more specific, there are many ways in which this grant can measure its success. Foremost, this school year (after fulfilling this grant) teachers filled out a survey/document stating their literacy needs in regards to guided reading. There were significantly less needs, so this grant was already successful! Also, if teachers are not running out of a certain instructional level, and are able to give students copies of these books to keep in their book boxes and copies to take home, this grant was very successful in enhancing the classroom and home learning environments. Lastly, we are able to measure the success of the program by monitoring and adapting our guided reading instruction. Better guided reading instruction means more successful readers, less students requiring reading intervention, and more students committed to a lifetime of reading. 

This grant aims to increase our guided reading instruction capabilities by fulfilling literacy needs with more leveled books and take-home copies of the same books. This grant will definitely enhance both the classroom and home learning environments.

Implementation

This grant will be implemented simply and in a time-effective manner without requiring much teacher time. The take-home reading materials will be purchased promptly (within 1-2 weeks of receiving funding). Upon delivery, the reading intervention teacher will distribute the materials to the teachers (within 1-2 weeks). Each teacher is receiving books based upon her literacy needs in the classroom. The most timely part of implementing this grant, will be that teachers must correctly label books, of course with Excellence in Education stickers, but also with teacher names so they are returned after being sent home. This process will take again 1-2 weeks to allow teachers to thoroughly mark their items. Similarly, teachers must have a very organized check out system, with tracking sheets, to determine who has borrowed the books, in case they are not brought back by students. Thus, overall, it seems that the grant will be implemented within a month or two of receiving funding (minus time for delivery from the publishing company).

The teachers that are new to a grade level or have a new organizational structure will order $400 of books, as needed by their classroom. These will be sets for guided reading or high-interest books for the Accelerated Reader program. I will help complete these orders, if necessary, or teachers will work directly with our administrative assistant to complete the order within 2-3 weeks of funding.

Can you share this grant with your grade level or subject team?

Actually, this grant is not for my intervention classroom. Instead these books are being shared with classroom teachers from kindergarten-fifth grade. 

Sustainability
This grant is fully sustainable. The guided reading materials will last a very long time under supervision of our teachers. Students are instructed on how to care for literacy materials at our site. Books last a long time (with an occasional piece of tape) and are always applicable to various content areas. By buying different sets for different teachers, students can read a variety of books year after year.
The send home materials are fully sustainable, as well. There are extra sets purchased for sending home, thus teachers will have enough for the classroom and home learning environments. One critical part of this grant’s sustainability is that students and parents must understand their role in protecting these items when taken home. Parents might need to sign a contract, read a letter, or have a checklist that clearly denotes the importance of receiving take-home materials. After agreeing to the teacher’s terms, and understanding the important role that they play in their child’s education, parents will be more likely to help sustain, return, care for, and LOVE these materials.
Amount Funded
$9702.00
Individual Budget Items(s)
$6293 - BeBop Lee and Low Books
$2400 - Upper Elementary Chapter Books
Shipping
$600.00
Taxes
$409.00
Other funding sources

The one item that can be bought by the school was a request for decodable texts. These are being bought through the ELO grant from the District. However, take home reading materials are not available for purchase at the moment. Also, while there are some classroom funds available for books, oftentimes teachers need these monies for other items (such as art supplies, hands-on science materials, etc). 

File Uploads
Lee and Low Quote Final .pdf (72.4 KB)
Literacy Needs for KBE 2021-22.pdf (1.18 MB)
Supporting Links
https://www.leeandlow.com/educators/bebop-books-collections
Notes

Thank you very much for your time!