READ TO SUCCEED: Books on wheels

Applicants Beliefs About Literacy: Reading is one of the best ways to acquire knowledge.Research shows that students get better at reading with practice. We need all of our students simply reading daily, both in our classrooms and at home. Students who are excited about reading, who have high quality, engaging books at their fingertips daily, will grow and develop as readers. Students with increased opportunities to read will build their stamina for reading and develop a daily habit and lifelong love of reading. As with any task, the learner must be motivated in order to be successful. “For students of every ability and background, it’s the simple, miraculous act of reading a good book that begins to turn them into readers….The job of adults who care about reading is to move heaven and earth to put that book into a child’s hand”-Nancie Atwell & Anne Atwell Merkel However, it’s not just struggling readers who could benefit from more reading practice. A study of the reading practices of more than 9.9 million students over the 2015–2016 school year found that more than half of the students read less than 15 minutes per day on average.1 Our idea is to create a list of alluring titles that students will want to read because they reflect their interest and reflect the diversity of students within the classrooms. Our request is for a K-2 classroom lending library that will help motivate students to read voraciously. This lending library will have a “Read to me” section where parents can help read aloud the titles to students and a section called “ I can read” for students to practice reading independently. The literacy goals for the grant are: To foster a love of reading To ensure that students go home nightly with books to read To increase the volume of reading To motivate students to spend more time at home reading daily To create additional opportunities for family engagement and improve reading outcomes for students To help foster parent involvement by providing them with training of reading skills and the importance of reading at home Young readers need to practice reading daily and we want to provide texts that will inspire and excite students to read. Many of the students at Mill Street come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and have very few resources within their homes. For many, their one opportunity to read is in our classrooms. We would like to change that by providing them with books teachers can lend full of high quality fiction and informational texts so they can come home every single school day. We will remove a barrier to provide students with reading volume.

How does this grant promote the development of literacy for learners?0

Please clarify your personal belief system about literacy and learning that is reflected in your practice?We will assess the effectiveness of the grant by: Parent/teacher/student feedback of the books selected (impact on student motivation, book talks, and enjoyment of reading).

Assessment PlanWe will assess the effectiveness of the grant by: Parent/teacher/student feedback of the books selected (impact on student motivation, book talks, and enjoyment of reading). A book cart for the books 360 dollars and bins about 60 dollars along with the attached order of books.

Itemized & Detailed BudgetWe believe that the goal of literacy instruction is to foster a love and enjoyment of reading that will carry them throughout their school career and into adulthood. Our instruction is centered around students practicing skills to become independent readers, writers,as well as proficient speakers and listeners. We believe each child must be met where he/she is on the developmental continuum in order to plan instruction that will accelerate his/her reading, writing, speaking and listening development.