Each week Ruth Ayres extends an invitation to share the celebrations from our week.
Best School Day - how many times have you said this? Officially, I can say it was this week. On Wednesday, the Donor's Choose organization, along with 20,000 generous donors, supported 11,459 public school classrooms. Through their #BestSchoolDay campaign, these donors gave over $2 million to projects created by teachers.
Thanks to Donor's Choose, Aspect Ventures who matched donations, and a very special author, my classroom was one of them.
When I moved to middle school from 4th grade, I took many of my books with me. However, many of these books are geared toward middle grade students, not middle school, especially my nonfiction and poetry books.
Earlier this year I created a nonfiction project, and it was funded by our local electric company. Just a month ago, I created a poetry project.
Middle school can be a tough transition into the teenage years. My 6th grade students try to balance school, home, friendships, parents, relationships, and extra-curricular activities, while keeping their emotions in check.
One day my students are trying to outrun their childhood, and the next day they are thankful being a teenager is not within their grasp.
For my students, no day is typical, and each day is different. But literacy is the one thing that can help hold it all together. My hope is that poetry will build empathy, allow for personal expression, and open their minds to different perspectives.
Today, I celebrate those who donors who are giving my students this chance.
I celebrate those businesses who support literacy and freely give monetary resources to help teachers. I celebrate my author friend and other authors who support the hard work that teachers do each and every day.
And as National Poetry Month begins, I celebrate poetry.
I celebrate those businesses who support literacy and freely give monetary resources to help teachers. I celebrate my author friend and other authors who support the hard work that teachers do each and every day.
And as National Poetry Month begins, I celebrate poetry.
These are just a few of the books which will be arriving in my classroom this month.
What a delightful gift on its way to your classroom! Kudos to you for creating this poetry project. There are some titles I love - Poetry Speaks Who I Am, A Maze Me, This Is Just to Say - and some new to me titles I want to request for book club. Thanks for sharing these covers. Love this sentence from your post - "One day my students are trying to outrun their childhood, and the next day they are thankful being a teenager is not within their grasp." You already know this new group so well. Happy weekend, Leigh Anne!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for having your project funded, Leigh Anne. This few you shared are wonderful additions for your kids. It is such a transition period. While I have so many poetry books for all ages, if you're teaching poetry and sharing too, one of my favorite books that I used often is titled "Important Words" by William Brown. I see it's only available used on Amazon, but wanted to share with you. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteLeigh Anne, it is wonderful that you are able to build a pre-teen library that will will engage your students. Congratulations on winning the grants and making this happen. The book,Walking on the Boundaries of Change, caught my eye. I am training 6th grade teachers on scoring the ELA assessment and we were trying to look at the texts and questions through the eyes of real 6th graders.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that the excitement in your classroom as packages arrive this month will be like Christmas excitement. I applaud your work to bring these books to your students. You aptly described MS student: "One day my students are trying to outrun their childhood, and the next day they are thankful being a teenager is not within their grasp." I admire MS teachers, like you, who help students hold it all together with literacy and build "empathy through poetry."
ReplyDeleteYou have such a wonderful understanding of your students.
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