This grant consists of a few novel sets for our new 4/5 classroom teacher and one for 2/3. Many of the books we are looking at address topics in diversity. There are a few books that are of high interest to students. The individual books were common requested texts from students that we either do not have enough of or none at all. We do not have a school library so students rely on the teacher classroom libraries to find books of high interest, books on variety of topics and genres, and books that teach diversity. This grant also includes a few sets of reading comprehension games that we would like to add to our 90 minutes ELA block. Each classroom has a set time in which we differentiate with materials such as Lexia, SRA reading mastery comprehension cards, and games. However, our games are heavily outdated and not relevant to students interests, though the games are standards based. Some of the books are novel sets and the rest are the Scholastic Newberry Collection of award winning books.
The grant benefits student reading and comprehension. All students need to find that book that makes them fall in love with reading and it is part of our job to have a variety of texts for them to choose from. Students will benefit from the games as an additional practice of their reading comprehension skills.
Students will continue to become passionate about reading, grow as life-long readers, and have an assortment of books to pick from where they can find a book they see themselves in. The class novel sets will allow us to continue to diverse our guided reading program. Students will use them in socratic seminars and literature circles. The games will allow students to learn to become better at inferencing, sequencing and summarizing, compare and contrasting, main idea vs details, and a variety of other significantly important reading comprehension skills.
Books and games will be used during our 90 minute reading block. Teachers and students will be able to implement them in a variety of ways based on needs, interests, and concepts or content.
This grant will be shared by all classes. More specifically, the games will be utilized by k-5 and through our intervention specialist when necessary. The books are resources mainly for 2-5 but high readers at all grade levels will be able to access, especially during our walk to learn time.
Our PTO was kind enough to put money aside for our new teacher to purchase class materials when she came to our school mid year. However at the time, much of what was in the classroom was taken with the previous teacher so we needed to set the classroom up in a way that was warm, inviting, and was an environment for a safe learning environment. The kids transition and security was at the forefront of how we spent that money. If we begin the year with still not being able to access this teacher's classroom, these books will be key to continuing a content based learning program where students can flexibly move to where their brain works best. The games will reinforce taught comprehension skills in a more targeted way. We may be able to use our small library funds in the future to fill in holes if necessary. But remember, we don't have a school library, students depend on their teachers for high quality books and games.
The Word After Word quote, which is attached, has a 20% discount that is not reflected in the individual item costs that was listed on the overall sum.