Read, Explore, Discover: Building Lifelong Readers Through Choice
Faith McHarris
ID-4045
School Name:Veterans Memorial Elementary
Grant Request Grade:3
Grant Request Subject:Language Arts
Additional Details
The goal of this project is to increase students’ reading engagement, comprehension, vocabulary, and independence by providing a dedicated classroom collection of high-interest fiction and nonfiction books. Through access to SSYRA and Orange Blossom titles, students will have meaningful opportunities to choose books, practice literacy skills, participate in reading discussions, and make connections between texts and their classroom learning. This project will help students develop confidence and ownership as readers while fostering a lasting love of reading.
Students will actively use the classroom reading collection throughout the school year during independent reading, partner reading, small-group instruction, and whole-class activities. Students will be given opportunities to choose books based on their interests and level, encouraging them to take ownership of their reading and explore genres and topics they may not otherwise encounter.
The SSYRA books will provide engaging fiction and graphic novels that students can read and discuss with their peers. Students will participate in book discussions, make predictions and inferences, identify character traits and changes, determine themes, summarize texts, and use context clues to understand unfamiliar vocabulary. Students will also have opportunities to recommend books to classmates and share their thinking about books they have read.
The Orange Blossom nonfiction books will allow students to explore a variety of real-world topics while strengthening informational reading skills. Students will practice identifying main ideas and supporting details, asking and answering questions, determining the meaning of academic vocabulary, and making connections between their reading and science, social studies, and other content-area instruction.
I will incorporate these books into my instruction through teacher guided reading activities, small-group instruction, student discussions, written responses, and independent reading. Students will use the books as authentic texts to practice the reading strategies and skills taught in class.
By providing a wide variety of engaging books directly in the classroom, this project will create more opportunities for students to read, discuss, explore, and connect with texts. The collection will also remain in the classroom for future students, allowing the project to continue supporting literacy instruction and student engagement year after year.
This project will increase students’ engagement with reading while strengthening their comprehension, vocabulary, and ability to independently interact with a variety of texts. With access to a wider selection of high-interest fiction and nonfiction, I expect students to read more frequently, make more purposeful reading choices, and become more confident in discussing and responding to what they read.
Students will demonstrate growth in their ability to summarize texts, identify main ideas and themes, make inferences, understand unfamiliar vocabulary, analyze characters, and support their thinking with evidence from the text. The nonfiction collection will also help students build background knowledge and make meaningful connections between reading and content-area learning.
Success will be measured through teacher observations, student reading choices, reading responses, book discussions, classroom assignments, and literacy assessments. I will monitor students’ engagement with the collection and look for increased independence when selecting, reading, and discussing books.
Ultimately, this project will help students develop greater confidence and ownership as readers while fostering curiosity and a lasting enjoyment of reading. The collection will also remain in the classroom for future students, allowing the benefits of the project to continue beyond the current school year.
Grant funds will be used to purchase 44 high-interest fiction and nonfiction books at a total cost of $667.67, including shipping and estimated sales tax, for a dedicated classroom reading collection. The collection includes 14 SSYRA Junior titles, 15 SSYRA Grades 3–5 titles, and 15 Orange Blossom nonfiction titles. These books will directly benefit all 16 students in my classroom, and students in years to come.
The collection will provide students with consistent access to a variety of engaging texts that support literacy instruction. SSYRA titles will give students opportunities to practice skills such as summarizing, identifying theme, analyzing characters, making inferences, and determining the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. The Orange Blossom nonfiction titles will allow students to build background knowledge and practice identifying main ideas and supporting details while making connections to science, social studies, and other areas of learning.
Students will use these books during independent and partner reading, small-group instruction, book discussions, written responses, and classroom activities. Providing a wide variety of titles will also allow students to make meaningful choices based on their interests, encouraging greater independence, confidence, and engagement as readers.
This funding will create a lasting classroom resource rather than a one-time instructional activity. The books will remain part of the classroom library and continue to support future students, making this a sustainable investment in literacy, student engagement, and a lifelong love of reading.
