Donors Choose Social Media Challenge

Yep. it's October (well, nearly), and that means Donors Choose has its annual challenge up.

This is a genuinely great charity; you give money directly to a teacher who uses it to fund a project - sometimes as basic as buying books.

I've got a Giving Page here. Please consider donating via it, but if you don't like those projects, please look around the site, find a project you do like, and suggest it for my page. Or just give to it. And remember - you don't have to fully fund a project.

You'll hear back from the teacher - you'll get photos (I won't post any here, but it's great seeing the kids reading!) - but here's a letter:

I can't thank you enough for funding this grant! This year I relocated to a different school and moved into a classroom that had nothing in it except desks. I spent my last weeks of summer frantically scraping together everything I would need to start the year. Thanks to this grant, I had materials for reading instruction ready at the start of the year.

These books have had a tremendous impact on the quality of reading instruction I'm able to provide for my students. Instead of "one size fits all" instruction that really misses the needs of most students, I'm able to work with leveled reading groups. Though it's the beginning of the year and I'm still laying the groundwork for my yearlong instruction plan, I can see that having new, interesting books that are at students' instructional level is really improving their confidence. Students who are self-proclaimed non-readers are already making huge gains in fluency and comprehension. One girl in particular spent the first few days of school pretending to read difficult chapter books, and guessing at words based on their first letter. This week she started reading Henry and Mudge, and she's now so proud of herself that she'll read the book to any person who will sit still long enough.

My students love these books. When reading appropriately-leveled books, students are able to feel successful and to measure their own progress as they move up to more challenging texts. Even more importantly, these books serve as a guide for helping students choose books for independent reading. Most of the books I requested for this grant were the first book of a series. Once students have read one book in a series, they're much more motivated to continue with others. The familiar characters and storyline help make other books in the series more accessible.

Though most of my students are growing up in poverty, they have big dreams for their futures. They know that achieving their goals and being successful requires them to have a quality education, and reading is the cornerstone of that education. By helping my students become successful readers, you're helping keep their future options open. Thank you so much for your generosity and for supporting these students who have such great need.

Please consider giving something! Thanks!