Help A Teacher Help Her Students Learn To Read(with a giveaway)

So since all of us are such avid readers and we all know the value of reading, I thought I would ask all of you to help my good friend and teacher with a program to help her students.  She has just 18 days to raise the rest of the money, which is $209, please help these students, every dollar counts.  I will make updates as donation are made.

Here is what Mrs. H has to say:

My Students: Have you ever been so lost in a book that you felt you were there? I want my students to experience that feeling. Giving students hands-on materials to retell and create new stories is a way to open them up to the magic that books have in them. Oral language is such an important part of learning.

We are a wonderful Kindergarten class in Michigan. We are located in an urban school district. Not only are my students in their first year of school, but I am a first year teacher too! I have a great group of students. They are hard workers and take great pride in their work. I love seeing how happy they are when they learn something new.

They love reading and often make great text to text connections. We love to have fun. If you were to step into our classroom on any given day you would often catch us giggling about something.

My Project: In Kindergarten, oral language is such an important part of learning. Retelling is the foundation for comprehension and many other reading skills. With these materials I will be able to let my students explore and practice these skills in a fun way. Many students learn by using hands-on materials.

Having these materials gives my students the ability to use story props to help guide them through the retelling process on their own. Not only am I building oral and reading skills, but I am helping them build their risk taking skills and self-esteem.

These story props help them take risk and try to retell. I want reading to be interesting and to show my students all the different ways books can be used. That is why I am requesting six different storytelling kits. These kits will provide my students with a copy of the book and hands-on characters (puppets and small characters) that can help them during oral retelling.

Could you imagine books with no pictures growing up? The pictures are what pulls young children into books. Now imagine having the characters in your hands. Think of all the doors that will be opened to them. It opens up a whole new world to reading. I want my students to have these experiences. Please help me make reading more than just a book in their hands.

My students need hands-on storytelling materials and puppets to use to help build their oral language and retelling skills.

You can donate here.  In order to help her meet her goal, I am going to hold a contest for those who donate.  This will be a for a book of you choice (up to $10 from Book Depository so make sure they deliver free in your country)  if Mrs. H meets her goal and her project moves forward.

Here are the rules:

Mandatory Entry:  Make a donation and leave a comment with the name you left your comment with and your email address.

Extra Entry:  1 extra entry for each way you share this contest – please leave a link to where you shared and your email.  Leave an additional comment for each way you shared.

Contest will end August 8, 2011 and winner will be announced by August 1oth, if the project is fully funded. The winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

Booking Through Thursday

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Booking Through Thursday Question For This Week.

What’s the first book that you ever read more than once? (I’m assuming there’s at least one.)

What book have you read the most times? And–how many?

I think the first book that I remember rereading was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  It is also the one that I have reread the most.  I don’t know how many times I have read it but each time a new book comes out I end up having to reread most of the series because there is just so much that happens in it that I need the refresher.  I was happy when the companion guide came out because it has abridged for the first three books.  Normally, I hate abridged books but in this case I am happy they are there since the regular books are around 1,000 pages each.

Typically, I am not a re-reader.  For me if I know what happens at the end of the story there is no real reason to reread the book.  My exception is if I forget what happened or I really need to brush up on the story line for a new book to make sense.  This is something that drives my husband crazy because he rereads almost every book he owns and usually 2 and 3 times if not more.  I guess maybe I should try this sometime but right now I have more books that I know what to do with so I will keep working my way through those. On the other hand, I will relisten to audio books.  Somehow, that is different for me.

I am looking forward to the answers for this Booking Through Thursday question  so I hope that you will leave me a comment with your answer or link.  Remember the comment are at the top right hand side of this post.

Have a great Thursday!